Confusion remains around the land swap between the municipality and the Grande Yellowhead Public School Division, as the division attempts to meet all of the conditions laid out in the swap agreement.

Last July, the two parties entered into an agreement to exchange the current dog park, to become the new school site, for a portion of the current high school land. 

In the agreement were five conditions that the school division had to meet by Dec. 31, 2011. That day came and went with only two of the five conditions met. Council then extended the agreement until Jan. 31. Again, the date passed forcing council to hold a special meeting to extend the date until Feb. 7, when it could be publicly decided during the regularly scheduled council meeting that the new deadline would be Feb. 24.

If council had let the date pass without an extension, the agreement would have been terminated.

The document that’s holding up the land exchange protects the municipality from liability on the high school land, including the removal of the school and the reconditioning of the land.

This condition was included in the agreement to protect Jasperites from having to pay the potential cost associated with remediating the land. 

The school division and the municipality were under the impression that said document would come from the Minister of Education, but the minister has now put it in the hands of the school division.

The municipality received a letter from the minister last week that approves the land exchange, meeting one of the five conditions, but it says nothing about remediating the land.

“What we have asked for is something that guarantees that it (the removal of the high school and reconditioning of the land) will be at no cost whatsoever to the municipality,” said George Krefting, Jasper’s soon-to-be-retired municipal manager. “That’s the part that is a little bit challenging because what we have proposed is that that be drafted and put right into the contract, so the construction contract would in fact contain that particular requirement.” 

Who needs to approve that requirement – the minister or the school division – is still to be discussed with the municipality, said Jordie Dwyer, communications manager for the school division.

Until all five conditions are met, the school division won’t be able to move ahead with a building permit, because the dog park land is not legally theirs to develop.

If the municipality hasn’t received the necessary documents by Feb. 21, council will again address the issue during its regularly scheduled meeting that day.

To date, the division has completed three of the five conditions laid out in the agreement. It has paid the municipality’s legal costs, as well as its consulting costs with respect to the land exchange and it has now received approval from the minister for the land swap. According to the Feb. 7 council agenda, administration believes a fourth condition has also been met: confirmation that the dog park land is in an acceptable environmental condition to become the new school site.

Dwyer said he doesn’t have any knowledge of whether that has been completed or not.

“I can’t see moving this far ahead and not knowing that it would be environmentally safe, but I can’t confirm that that condition’s actually been met.”

Dwyer said the school division is working on fulfilling all of the conditions, but he doesn’t know a timeline as to when they will be completed.

“It’s in the works, but it’s not done yet,” he said.

Jasper was chosen last year to be one of 35 schools in the province to be renovated or built.

A plebiscite was held in June asking residents to decide whether or not the municipality should enter into a land swap with the school division. Sixty per cent of voters were in favour of the idea.