Town renews Youth Hub lease agreement with school division

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Town of Strathmore and Golden Hills School Division are renewing the lease agreement over the Youth Hub for another five years.

“For years, the town has leased buildings to several organizations that have provided public service programs and services. The Youth Club lease agreement with Golden Hills has been in place since February 2022 following the decision of council to cease operations of the youth club program,” said Mark Pretzlaff, director of community and protective services for the town. “This lease agreement has enabled Golden Hills School Division through Crowther Memorial Junior High to operate the Anchors II Outreach program. This program is an alternative education initiative designed to support students that may not thrive in a traditional school setting by providing specialized, flexible learning environments.”

Should the lease agreement cease, Golden Hills operations would vacate the building, and maintenance responsibilities would once again fall to the town.

The previous lease agreement, and subsequently the new document the town has agreed to sign, allows the use of the facility for one dollar per year for the school division.

From a financial perspective, though the lease agreement is for an effectively negligible amount, the town does not spend resources maintaining the building.

“There is probably no way to generate revenue with a building like this other than us putting forward a massive investment to get it up to the quality that somebody would actually want to rent,” said Coun. Brent Wiley. “In the meantime, we are holding on to it, but we are also having the maintenance covered … it is a win for us because it costs us nothing, but in the meantime, it serves the community, it serves Golden Hills with this excellent school program.”

The new agreement backdates the lease period to have effectively commenced as of Feb. 1 and will be in place until Dec. 31, 2030. At which point, the school division will once again be given the option to renew.

Going forward, Town CAO Kevin Scoble added the town will be working with both local school divisions to implement a Joint Use and Planning Agreement (JUPA) by June 1, which is noted under provincial legislation.

“It is not just planning for schools, but it is also how all three parties can optimize the use of all the assets that we have in sharing arrangements. This would become part of that JUPA,” said Scoble. 

The new lease agreement was approved unanimously by council following discussion.