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Independent & Free Press, Wednesday, May 24, 2006 3 Having a bang at Bang-o-Rama Local school to get portapak TIM WHITNELL Special to The IFP Silver Creek Public School is getting an addition. While it's not a traditional addition, a 10-room portapak (portables joined to the school through a hallway) received unanimous approval from Halton District School board trustees recently. The Eaton Street school will get the 10-room structure, but the timing of its construction and operation has not yet been officially approved by the board. However, Halton Hills school board Trustee Ethel Gardiner said at a recent meeting she attended with board staff and members of the community it was decided that the preferred option for targeted completion of the portapak is September 2007. The other option offered by board staff was the relocation of the 12 portables on site by Aug. 28, 2006 and construction of the modular addition done by late November. That option wasn't chosen, however, due to safety concerns about construction occurring while children are in school. The portapak, which will be linked to the school, should help alleviate a population boom that has resulted in 931 students in the threeyear-old Junior Kindergarten-Grade 8 facility. The school was built with a 650-student capacity, but with the expectation there would be 12 portables there as well. A 10-room portapak can accommodate approximately 200 pupils. The school already has 12 portable classrooms that are separate from the main school building. Board facilities superintendent Gerry Cullen said the structure could cost about $1.6 million. Moving the existing portables could cost $500,000. At a recent board meeting Gardiner, long an advocate for more pupil spaces in her growing area in north Halton, pleaded with fellow trustees to give the Georgetown community some relief. "Georgetown has paid its dues. A portapak should have been there this past September. We will have at least 300 kids in portables for years. This is a logistics nightmare. Parents are concerned about the number of portables," said Gardiner. She stressed there are 19 stand-alone schools within the board with fewer than the 300 students Silver Creek has housed in portables. Cullen acknowledged in his report to trustees that parents at Silver Creek P.S. had asked in the past for the replacement of some of the individual portables with a portapak. A cog in considering the request previously, Cullen noted, was uncertainty about the longterm need for portables. However, board administrative discussion about south Georgetown, and the possible removal of a third new school in the area in an updated capital plan, may justify the need for more such classrooms. "If we built three schools in south Georgetown, we wouldn't leave Silver Creek the size it is-- we would shift the boundaries to move the (student) population around. What has changed is the inclination to go to two large schools rather than three," Cullen told trustees. Cullen said Thursday no decision has been made yet on whether or not there will be one or two more schools (in addition to Silver Creek) in Georgetown South, but it is certain that the school planned to open on the east side of Mountainview Rd. in September 2007 will be delayed because servicing is not yet available. Both additional schools, one each on the west and east side of Mountainview Rd., are included in the board's draft capital plan. Cullen said through consultation with the community it was felt that most people were concerned about resolving the portable situation at Silver Creek first, and prepared to deal with the one or two more school issue down the line. He said a decision on that issue will be made after further public consultation and discussions between the board, municipality and school councils. "If a third school is warranted in Georgetown South it absolutely should be there," said Gardiner. "But we won't know that for several years." --With files from Lisa Tallyn, staff writer When it comes to kids and midways, it doesn't matter how cold or wet the weather is as Kaela Holmes, 6, (above) and Kaitlyn Dorics, 4, proved Saturday during the weekend-long Bang-o-Rama. The 23rd edition, hosted by the Georgetown Optimist Club, ran from Friday to Monday at the Georgetown Fairgrounds and boasted a variety of entertainers, performances by the Archers of Caledon and a fireworks display. Photos by Shawn McAlpine Construction starts on long-awaited shopping centre New Georgetown South plaza will feature bank, coffee shop and grocery LISA TALLYN Staff Writer Construction has started on the longawaited new shopping centre-- that will include a grocery store-- in Georgetown South. Halton Hills Village Shopping Centre, located on the east side of Mountainview Rd. south of Argyll Rd., will have more than 110,000 sq. ft. of retail space. It's anticipated that the shopping centre, owned by The Shoppes at Four Corners Inc., will be open for the 2006 Christmas shopping season, said Paul King, planning consultant for the project. The shopping centre will have entrances from Mountainview Rd. (northbound only), Argyll Rd. and Danby Rd. and feature a 55,000 sq. ft. A&P grocery store in a stand-alone building on the 12-acre site. Other major confirmed tenants include TD Canada Trust, Tim Hortons and Petro Canada. King said all the major tenants signed on to be part of the centre early on. "There's been a lot of interest from the business community," said King. The Tim Hortons will have a drivethru and the Petro Canada gas station will be one of the company's first new format designs in Canada which includes a large convenience store and car wash, said King. There will be a couple of restaurants located in the shopping centre as well, said King, however he would not release any further details. The centre will have 579 parking spaces and along with the four standalone buildings of the major tenants, it will include two separate retail buildings with approximately 10 units in each. "One of the retail buildings may advance faster than the other," said King. He said the shopping centre will be a "high quality development" that will use a "similar architectural style throughout." A clock tower will be included on one of the buildings. King said the centre will exemplify the high quality design and building standards developed for the Georgetown South community by the town and the developer. The shopping centre is being developed jointly by Power Centres Inc. and Queensgate Homes-- developers and builders of commercial and residential properties throughout southern Ontario. (Lisa Tallyn can be reached at ltallyn@independentfreepress.com) Halton Hills Village Shopping Centre planning consultant Paul King says the new Georgetown South plaza will be open by Christmas. Photo by Eamonn Maher