Landmark school building demolished in Alliance

What began on Aug. 21 in the Village of Alliance is now half-completed; the demolition of the school is finished, and reclamation has been started to clean up the land.

Village CAO Laura Towers says that the Village of Alliance and the Battle River School Division, the owners of the building, have had many discussions pertaining to the building’s disposition over the last four years, adding, “but the red tape went on and on.”

The school closed in June of 2008, and about a year later the village approached BRSD about having the old portions of the school demolished but retaining the newer portions of the building.

“We as a village couldn’t afford the building or upkeep, so we knew it would have to be private investors,” said Towers, “but we had a lot of great ideas for that building.”

BRSD, citing funding and legal issues, delayed a decision until about a year ago, when they agreed to the plan, said Towers.

At that point, Towers said council had another look at the building, and discovered that even the newer portions of the school, the part they were interested in, had, due to a lack of maintenance, deteriorated to the point where council decided they didn’t want it anymore.

Leslie Cholowsky
Editor

Read the rest of the story in the September 4, 2012 Edition of The Community Press, on newsstands now.