A city committee will study the site of a new Catholic high school on Tuesday.

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Owen Sound’s committee of adjustment will consider a plan to build a new Catholic high school on vacant land in the city’s east end.

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A 1,012-student Catholic high school is proposed along East 28th Avenue, aabout 300 yards south of East 16th Street, according to documents posted on the city’s website.

Tuesday’s hearing can be followed online via a link on the city’s website, or in person in the council chambers at City Hall at 3 p.m.

The Bruce Grey Catholic District School Board is seeking a land division to create 7.5 hectares, or nearly 20 acres, of land to purchase for a new Grade 9 to 12 school. The school would be located on the west side of 28th Avenue East and would open in the fall of 2028.

The school will be built on two floors at the eastern end of the plot. It will accommodate 1,012 students and 90 to 95 staff members. A sports field will be built to the west of the school.

Almost all of the remaining 22 acres of the property would be retained by current owner Wilma Vandolder for future development, school board planning consultant Ron Davidson wrote in his planning justification report included on the city’s website.

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The school’s traffic impact report also considers the future traffic impacts of potential commercial development on vacant land to the north and potential residential use to the south of the school site in future years. It concludes that these impacts would be satisfactory and that the project should therefore be considered for approval.

The report from Paradigm Transportation Solutions Limited says there would be roads off 28th Street on the north and south sides of the school site, serving the school and other developments.

Owen Sound’s existing Catholic high school, St. Mary’s High School, located at 555 15th St. E., is overflowing with students.

The school was built for 660 students, but last fall more than 1,000 attended. The Catholic board’s director of education, Gary O’Donnell, said last fall that they were in the site selection stage and that it would be four or five years before the school was built.

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Council staff did not respond to interview requests this week.

Documents on the city’s website show the school would be 7,500 square meters, with the two floors accounting for 12,634 square meters.

The proposed school site is designated as residential in the Sydenham Heights planning area. The parcel to be retained is designated as East City Commercial, Open Space and Hazardous Lands, the public notice of the severance application states. The site must be rezoned institutionally to accommodate a school.

The notice states that the council is proposing to sever the southern portion of the lands for the school, which would have approximately 151 metres of frontage on East 28th Street on a 476-metre-deep lot. There is mention of a new road, approximately 237 m south of the existing 28th Avenue East and 16th Street East.

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The traffic report indicates that there will be one bus stop and 150 parking spaces. Twenty-seven school buses are expected to transport all students to and from school, with room for up to 10% to travel to school by private vehicle.

The council must also submit a site plan application, which city staff is tasked with deciding, and which will likely be filed with the zoning bylaw amendment application, Davidson’s planning report says.

The city’s water and sewer services should be extended to the school site, the Davidson report noted, which said those costs would not be borne by city taxpayers. The city will require land to be deeded to it for a new municipal road and to the county to widen 28th Avenue East.

Davidson wrote that there have been extensive prior consultations, including with Grey County, the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority and the Ministry of Transportation. Approval of the separation would allow the school board to take possession of the land by the end of August.

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