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Weds., June 19, 2013 www.revelstoketimesreview.com Vol. 116, No. 25
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TIMESReview
Family Fishing Day - 11
$1.25
Bentley over the Big Eddy Members of the Bentley Drivers Club take their 1928 4.5 litre Bentley for a drive over the 1915 Big Eddy Bridge. They were part of a group of about 30 vehicles taking part in the club’s annual drive. This year, they were going from Los Angeles to Jasper National Park, then back down to Vancouver, where it will be shipped back to the United Kingdom. Earlier, the cars – some of which are worth more than $1 million – were parked all over downtown where the drivers stopped for lunch. See more photos from their visit on the Revelstoke Times Review Facebook page. Alex Cooper/ Revelstoke Times Review
Meeting lays out challenges of preserving Mountain View Alex Cooper
reporter@revelstoketimesreview.com
The consensus is there. Everyone wants to preserve the historic Mountain View school building. The questions: how will that happen, and who’s going to pay for it? “This is our last chance to preserve a heritage school in Revelstoke because the others are all gone,” said Mike Dragani, the chair of the City of Revelstoke’s heritage committee at one point during a two-hour long meeting on June 11 that was arranged to discuss the future of the school building and the Mountain View site. The meeting was attended by
almost 20 people, including school district staff, members of the Board of Education, City of Revelstoke staff, Mayor David Raven, members of the city’s heritage committee, and a few interested citizens. It was chaired by Donald Luxton, the consultant hired to look after the preservation of the school. “I think we all recognize it’s historical value but with all these types of issues – and I deal with this all the time – the problem is that in itself doesn’t preserve a building, knowing that it has value,” said Luxton in his leadoff remarks. “We have to find ways to preserve it, to pay for it, to physically conserve it,
to use it.” Luxton ran down the situation as it stood. He presented a series of slides showing what the school looked like when it was first built, and what it looks like now. He also showed a site layout, where some right-of-ways ran through the property, and where the sewer (the school is built right over a sewer pipe), water and electrical lines went. And he talked about the state of the school itself – the fact the back of the building would have to be re-built, windows replaced and mechanical issues addressed. “These are things that will con-
tribute to the cost of rehabilitation that need to be considered as we move forward,” he said. Luxton presented a rough plan that would turn most of the site into residential lots, with some park space on Third Street and the historic school preserved. “It’s a scheme that puts residential on the site to pay for retention of the school but also balance off the provision of open space,” he said. Amy Flexman kickstarted the discussion on what to do with the building and the site when she stood up and presented her vision for what she called an outdoor dis-
covery centre. Her plan included an amphitheatre for performances, an indoor climbing space, and a community garden and greenhouse. The historic school building would be turned into a mix of classroom space, art studios and communal office space. The east end of the property would have a residence built on it that could be rented out to visiting groups. Her idea was the centre would be used as a retreat for businesses, schools and other organizations. “Having a centre like this would draw in people from Kelowna or
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