Site chosen for new Brandon K-8 school
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
We need your support!
Local journalism needs your support!
As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.
Now, more than ever, we need your support.
Starting at $15.99 plus taxes every four weeks you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.
Subscribe Nowor call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.
Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Brandon Sun access to your Free Press subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $20.00 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.00 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/05/2025 (318 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A new Brandon K-8 school is getting closer to reality, with a finalized location picked out.
The site for the new school is pending Brandon City Council approval of an application to rezone land in the city’s southwest corner, south of Lakeview Drive, from agricultural to educational use.
The school, which the rezoning application said can hold up to 1,000 students, is one of the two new schools in Brandon announced in the 2025 provincial budget on March 20. The other school is part of Division scolaire franco-manitobaine.
Construction workers sit for a break next to the new site of a proposed school on 34th Street. Council still needs to approve the development. (Alex Lambert/The Brandon Sun)
“It’s absolutely needed, especially with the population growth and the development in this area of the city,” said Coun. Shawn Berry (Ward 7), who represents the area. “A lot of the schools are basically overflowing right now with the number of students.”
Brandon School Division Supt. Mathew Gustafson said the division has been above or near capacity at all but one school west of Sixth Street since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“At our current rate of growth, we would have just over two years worth of capacity if we were able to utilize all the spaces within all city schools,” said Gustafson. “It has become a very significant need to increase the number of seats we have within the city.”
He said the new school, which doesn’t have a timeline for opening yet, will relieve pressure on the other schools in the area and will also have a daycare.
Gustafson also said that more schools are definitely necessary for the future, but declined to say where another one might go. He said the areas where the city is expanding will be most in need.
He said right now, the division is averaging two new students per day.
The new school, which property owner John Burgess said has been in the works for a decade, has faced a plethora of delays. He said he would have hoped to break ground on the new site years ago if it weren’t for problems the city threw at him.
Berry said the main delay comes from other delays in building new lift stations, which are responsible for wastewater. He said the southwest part of the city hadn’t had the capacity for new developments for years, so a new school wasn’t possible. Now there’s a new lift station close to completion at the corner of Patricia Avenue and 34th Street, and there’s a proposed station at the corner of Patricia Avenue and 18th Street, which would allow for more capacity.
Berry said while the land-use application needs approval from the city, he expects it to be a rubber stamp.
“I’d be surprised — I’d like to meet the person on council that’s going to vote no against that,” said the councillor. “Probably wouldn’t be the best thing to do.”
No date has been set for council to consider the matter.
Burgess’s company, Waverly Developments Ltd., has submitted its application to the city, which is dated April 22.
The proposal is for a total of 11 new properties, including the up to 100,000-square-foot school and 10 houses.
Burgess said the school property is in everyone’s interest to be approved.
“I think it’s in everybody’s interest to not drag it out. But these last-minute details that the city throws in front of subdivisions do seem to take a long time, and it’s in everybody’s interest to see this development proceed.”
A construction worker on the site, who the Sun agreed not to name, said they started working at the site about two weeks ago.
Burgess said he expects to be selling the property to the division when the school nears completion.
Gustafson said no name has been picked for the new school, and one won’t be picked until closer to completion.
The new development will also see Plateau Drive extended southward, and a new west-east avenue created, which will intersect with Plateau. Berry said no name has been picked for the new street.
The official address for the school is 1900 34th St., but Berry said that’s most likely because the road it will actually be on, which is a block over, doesn’t exist yet. He said the address will likely change in the future.
» alambert@brandonsun.com