The public wants to know if the old, unused Mackenzie Elementry School structure can be used for something.
School District No. 57 had announced their consideration of demolishing the old building, but after a public consultation meeting Friday in Mackenzie they have promised to hold off until more input can be gathered from the local public.
"I don't have any information as to what that is going to look like yet," board chair Tim Bennett told those in attendance.
"That's going to be a conversation that the board is going to have."
Those in attendance at the meeting asked questions about the extent of the building's condition.
"Rather than demolition, a desire to see the building - or parts of it - retained for future use in the community was expressed by some," said Bennett. "General support for retaining public use of existing playground structures was also voiced."
The structure is 3,916.7 square metres in size. The grounds cover a 3.2-hectare area.
Mackenzie Elementary School opened in 1966 and closed in 2010. The school's operating capacity was 325 students.
A report performed for the Ministry of Education in 2015 rated the facility as being at end of life (generally 40 to 50 years). Five years ago, the cost of upgrading the school to the standards of the day was estimated at almost $5 million.
Demolition costs would be partially covered by the Ministry of Education and the rest would have to come from the SD57 budget. According to SD57, if the demolition option is chosen, the project would be put out to public tender. The estimated timeframe for demolition once the contract has been awarded would be two to three months.
