Council to vote on lease extension for Waldorf school

The Whistler Waldorf School may get a reprieve in its ongoing struggle to find a permanent location come Tuesday’s (Nov. 15) council meeting.

In a notice of motion at the Nov. 1 council meeting, Coun. Ted Milner floated a proposal to extend the private school’s lease at Spruce Grove Park and in the field house to 2013, giving it an extra year to find a more permanent place in Whistler.

Since opening in 2000, the Grades 1 to 8 private school has faced some difficulties in keeping up with demand, growing to more than 80 students in its first 10 years. Currently housed in a set of portables and part of the Spruce Grove Field House, the Waldorf’s lease is set to expire in 2012 — a concern that school officials have expressed to candidates running for council.

“Waldorf met with a bunch of candidates and wanted to know what I thought about what they wanted to do,” said Milner. “They want to find a permanent home and I’m all for it.”

Earlier this year, the Waldorf school put forward a proposal to council to lease the entire Spruce Grove Field House building. Council rejected the offer.

“Council didn’t feel that was in the best interest of the community at large,” Mayor Ken Melamed said at the time of the school’s proposal.

It was a response that Waldorf Principal Michelle Kirkegaard was puzzled with when the decision was rendered.

“We were approached by (municipal staff) to put together a proposal,” she said at the time. “We’ve been renting part of the Spruce Grove Field House the whole time we’ve been there, so it looked like a really good fit.”

Since the proposal was rejected, school officials have been left struggling to find a solution, which would either mean moving operations elsewhere or signing a long-term lease for its current space.

“I think they should be taking a hard look at proposing a lease behind where the school is now. If you take a look at where the school is, the area behind is not being used,” said Milner. “If you built a permanent structure there and they’re able to raise some funds, they could have a permanent home there and I think that would be great.”

But in order to accomplish something like that, the school would need at least a year to get its plans together, which Milner hopes to give them by bringing his motion to the council table.

“To get all this put together, they’re worried their lease is up next year and they just asked if I would consider helping them extend it for a year so they have time to do their plan,” he said.

When asked why he thought it was important to keep the Waldorf in Whistler, Milner said the school has a lot to offer the community and it would be a shame to see it go.

“They’ve got a couple of portables that are really tied together and some of the rooms have no windows — it’s just temporary, there’s no way it can be permanent,” he said. “They need a proper school.”

Council is set to vote on Milner’s motion during Tuesday’s public meeting, which starts at 5:30 p.m. at Millennium Place.

Multiple attempts to reach school officials for comment were unsuccessful by The Question’s deadline.