K/12 school building project in Sharbot Lake

Jeff Green | Nov 01, 2012

The new K-12 school in Sharbot Lake is proceeding apace, on several fronts.

In terms of the building project itself, the substrate work has been done, concrete has been poured and some preliminary walls are going up.

A naming contest for the new school ended on October 31, and an official ground-breaking ceremony is set for November 15.

In terms of the trials and tribulations around a new septic system for the new building, which is subject to regulations that come with its location in the vicinity of an at-capacity trout-sensitive lake, the News has received further information from the Ministry of the Environment, which must approve the septic system before it can be constructed.

In an email, Sarah Dick, Senior Environmental Officer for the Kingston District, cleared up one issue. When she said in early September that the ministry had not yet been approached by the Limestone School Board about the septic system for the new building, she was mistaken.

“When we spoke earlier I was unaware that ministry staff had met with the school board earlier this year,” she wrote.

Ms. Dick also provided further information regarding ongoing planning for the septic system.

“The ministry and the school board are still engaged in the pre-consultation stage regarding the septic system. To date, an approval has not been applied for. The purpose of the pre-consultation is to ensure that the school board applies for an approval in accordance with Section 53 of the Ontario Water Resources Act. Also, the system will need to be designed to accommodate the number of staff and students attending the school. The location of the septic system has not yet been determined, [and that] location will be determined in consideration of the 300 metre setback.”

Three hundred metres from the shoreline is the setback distance for any new septic bed that is called for in the Central Frontenac Comprehensive zoning bylaw for the west basin of Sharbot Lake, a provincially designated trout-sensitive lake.

We also asked the ministry about an issue that arose during the excavation phase of the project, when a water vein was opened up, causing an adjacent well to run dry. The vein was subsequently resealed with concrete and buried under several feet of fill.

“Concrete is an inert material. Concrete is commonly used to seal abandoned dug and drilled wells to protect groundwater resources from surface contamination,’ Sarah Dick wrote, adding that the ministry has met with the school board and the adjacent landowner to discuss the situation.

The Limestone District School Board is planning to have construction of a new school complete, and the old school demolished in time for the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year in 10 months' time.