New Sharbot Lake School taking shape, on paper at least

Jeff Green | Jul 21, 2011

A hot July night proved to be a less than ideal time for most people to attend a public meeting on the draft design of the new Kindergarten to Grade 12 school in Sharbot Lake, which at this point is planned for completion in just over two years.

Terry White from the Ventin group in Toronto presented the design to school administrators and school board officials and a few members of the public in the cafetorium of the existing Sharbot Lake High School on Tuesday evening.

The three-storey L-shaped design with a cafetorium and double gym located on the second and third floors is similar to one that was agreed to in June by a design committee that included members of parent councils as well as board employees.

Terry White, who has been designing schools for over two decades, said that he normally would put the gym and cafetorium on the ground floor, “but the layout of the site and the demands of this school made that unworkable in this case, so we settled on a second floor gym.”

The way the building is planned however, there will be direct access to the second floor from the exterior of the building at three locations, “so there will be a lot of access nonetheless,” White added.

The plan is for the school to be located in the parking lot, as far towards the north as possible before it hits the flood plain towards the existing playing field, which will remain.

The wood and auto shops will be located on the ground floor at the north end of the building, with the cafetorium and double gym above, stretching out past where there is currently a basketball court and into where there are now rocks and trees to the west.

Part of the plan is to excavate into that rock to fit the gym in, allowing direct access to the gym from behind the building as the landscape rises.

The rest of the building will extend to the south, towards where the existing school is now located.

The kindergarten rooms will be located on the ground floor, at the south end of the building, adjacent to the elementary playing field. The elementary classrooms will be located on the second floor and the high school classes on the third floor.

The administration office and the library will be located on the first floor, where the two parts of the L-shaped building meet. Across from the administration offices there will be a library and a computer lab, which will open up onto a courtyard behind the building.

The cladding of the building could include brick, concrete and perhaps wood, and there will be a number of full-length glass windows employed to bring natural lighting to the library, the entranceway, and other parts of the building.

Among the community-focussed features of the design are plans to orient the cafetorium to optimise theatrical performances by North Frontenac Little Theatre and the school drama department. Not only will there be seating for 200 – 225 people in the cafetorium, the wall to the gym will be removable, creating the option of a 600 plus seat theatre.

The temporary wall in the middle of the double gym can also be removed, creating a space that could potentially hold as many 1000 people.

Dianne Lake, who attended the meeting as a member of the public but pointed out she not only attended Sharbot Lake High School, but spend 28 years running the cafeteria, made the point that during the 1998 ice storm the school spent 22 days as an emergency shelter and relief centre.

“That extra capacity for a public space might become a huge community asset some day,” she said.

Terry White said that the final design should be ready for public viewing in the early fall, and he hopes the project can go to tender in late October. Preliminary construction could begin before freeze up.

Ann Goodfellow, the school board trustee for the region, pointed out that the Ministry of Education will require that a complete costing be done for every aspect of the project before they approve it.

“Maybe we can break ground next spring,” she said.

The municipal building permitting process will also need to be undertaken, and will likely include environmental assessments.

There were no representatives from the municipality at the public meeting.