Lorne school plan earns tentative support from Saint John council

• Push to give old Lorne middle school a new purpose enters final stretch
• Old Lorne Middle School eyed for health, employment training centre
• ONE Change to study new use for Lorne Middle School building

The presentation was led by Morgan Lannigan, from the ONE Change board, who said the city is tied to the fate of the school building.

"Whether you want it to be or not,and that's just the plain truth here," he said.

The city has spent $3 million on the Nick NicolleCommunity Centre, which is attached to the Lorneschool building and already provides a variety of programs for adults and young people in the area.

Lannigan said the city's investment would be lost if the school building, now owned by the provincial government, is torn down or sold rather than made part of a largerbase of community and regional services.

Last year, there were more than 44,000 visits to the NickNicolle centre, which provides employment training, health careand other services.

Expanding the centre to include the Lorne school building would allow the centre to reach beyondthe old north end as a regional community centreand extend training and employment programs, ONE Change said.

The group said the purpose of its presentation Monday night was not to ask the city for money, although ultimately it wants the the city to take over ownership of the building and lease it back to the charity.

Under that arrangement, the group said, the city would shed some of its other north end real estate and move operations to the more central school building.

Looking for city ownership

The group said the city would be responsible for long-term capital improvements to the building, as well as property taxes and general maintenance.

But the city could also end up with $110,000 in savings by consolidating its north end operations in the school building and by leasing space to ONE Change, Lannigan said.

"It's a win for the City of Saint John, and it's a win for the north end," said Lannigan.

"So, if we can harness these opportunities, we can actually multiply the effect and create opportunities for a number of partners, not just one-sided."

Timeline problems

Deputy Mayor Shirley McAlary had some questions about the timeline, given the fact the ownership and bills for Lorne School currently fall to the province.

"The city, in my opinion, is going through some difficulties at the moment, financially and otherwise, and there's quite a few issues in there," said McAlary.

"There's no guarantee we could sell some of our propertiesin a hurry."