More than 16,000 new housing units will bring nearly 2,000 school-aged children to New Westminster over the next 10 years — and the district will need to buy four new school sites to keep up with that growth.
Those numbers are set out in the New Westminster school district’s eligible school sites proposal. The district puts together the report every year to identify future needs for school sites so it can include them in its capital plan submission to the Ministry of Education and Child Care.
The district works with the City of New Westminster to set out projected growth in the city over 10 years and what type of housing it’s expected to be. The report shows that, between 2023 and 2032, the city expects 16,300 new housing units: 9,200 in highrise apartments; 3,000 in lowrise apartments; 3,900 in row homes; and 200 in single-detached homes.
That’s a significant jump from last year’s report, which foresaw 12,935 new housing units between 2022 and 2031.
The projected number of school-aged children that housing will bring remains similar. The 2022 report projected the arrival of 1,963 school-aged children from new housing over 10 years. This year’s foresees 1,956 school-age children: 230 living in highrises; 270 in lowrise apartments; 1,326 in row houses; and 130 in single-detached homes.
Those students will continue to drive up enrolment growth in the fast-growing district, and SD40 is spelling out the need for four new school sites at a total cost of $80 million.
- Queensborough: The district will need $14.4 million to acquire more land for an expansion of Queensborough Middle School, taking it from an existing capacity of 375 students to a future capacity of 1,125. That would accommodate grades 6 to 8 students, plus a secondary wing for grades 9 to 12 students.
- Fraser River zone elementary school: The district will need $24 million to acquire land for a 575-student elementary school in the downtown area (on top of the elementary school that’s already planned for the Fraser River Middle School site).
- Fraser River zone middle school: The district will need $30 million to add another middle school on the west side of the city, for 575 students.
- Glenbrook zone elementary school: The district will need $11.6 million for a 575-student elementary school in Sapperton.
The eligible school sites proposal is just one part of the picture for future growth in School District 40.
It also has a new long-range facilities plan in the works. Long-range facilities plans are designed to set direction for the district’s future capital plans, taking into account current and future enrolment needs based on projections up to 15 years into the future.
The district’s last long-range facilities plan was adopted in October 2021, and a new plan is coming this fall.
Secretary-treasurer Bettina Ketcham said the district is updating its long-range plans every two years to keep up with trends in growth in New Westminster and to make sure its capital plans are informed by the latest data.
She pointed out that changing housing types are adding some complexity to growth projections.
For instance, she noted, it used to be that a two-bedroom unit would be expected to have one child in the household, but that’s not necessarily the case anymore.
“The assumptions that are going into reflecting what number of students can we anticipate coming out of one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom apartments look really different,” she said. “As to single-family homes, you’ve got multi-generational families, suites, that are adding complexity in trying to really nail down the annual projection numbers.”
There’s one certainty in New Westminster growth projections, however, and that’s that enrolment in SD40 will continue to go one way: up.
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