The City of Salmon Arm council is supporting an application to the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) to construct a new school playground.
The application, submitted by School District 83, was one of several to the ALC on the agenda for council’s Sept. 27 meeting. This one, however, did not involve a request for the exclusion of land from the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). Instead, the school district is asking the ALC to approve an expansion of the non-farm use area at the South Canoe School for the construction of a playground.
On Sept. 10, the B.C. government announced the school was receiving $165,000 through the province’s Playground Equipment Program, to build an accessible playground.
According to city staff, the school property is located within the ALR. The land commission supported the reopening of the former South Canoe Elementary School in 2018 to accommodate the school district’s outdoor learning program. However, city development services director Kevin Pearson explained the ALC confined the non-farm use “quite restrictively around the footprint of the school building,” and building a new playground requires the land commission’s approval.
The application request is to expand the current non-farm use by 216 square metres for a playground, and 46 square metres for a hillside slide. Illustrations included with the application show a playground with a hard-rubber surface and a mix of climbing features, including a rope structure.
Council gave its unanimous support for the application to proceed to the ALC.
Read more: South Canoe School receives $165,000 for new playground
lachlan@saobserver.net
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