It seems like a case of “be careful what you wish for”.
Town council is requiring the owner of the J.H. Boyd school site to tear down the now-derelict building and put up a safety fence.
The reality is that this property could long have been a neighbourhood with much-needed housing, not the eyeseore it has become. This would be far more desirable than what the site is now — a place for people to vandalize.
As late as 2007 the owner and developer had plans and was ready to build 56 single family homes there, and 15 duplexes. Had the 11.8 acres gone to that purpose, the building would long have been finished and a community established, much like nearby housing developments.
Instead, people chose to focus on the past, entrenched in the idea that the property would someday be used for school purposes again. Hopefully by now everyone has let go of this dream. That ship has sailed. Cowichan Lake is not going to have its own school district again. And even if it did, the property has been sold and is in private hands.
It is true that the property was given to the school district for education purposes. However, the school district chose not to keep it as such and the developer had every right to purchase it.
Stubbornly crossing arms and stamping feet against change will at this point gain the community nothing. For it is the community as a whole that suffers, along with the landowner, if the property continues to stand vacant and unused.
Change can be difficult. But the undesirable change — the school closure and sale — happened many years ago now. It’s time to deal with present-day, and what is most desirable for the future of the community.
In the current housing climate, a development of the site into much-desired homes could be really good for the area, and provide a win-win. We would hope a developer would find more people on board with a plan to build this time around.
Cowichan Lake has become a desirable destination for home buyers, as evidenced with the recent boom in prices and quick sales of anything that comes on the market. What is missing is enough housing stock. More people, in turn, it is hoped, would help to grow the business community as well.
It’s once again time to decide the future of J.H. Boyd. We need to let go of the past to do it.
