Stave Falls Association Community Meeting

Minutes

Stave Falls Association Community Meeting

December 12th 6:30

Attending: 34 community members

Directors attending:

Darlene, Julia, Hannah, Diana, Paula, Courtney

Thanking every one for coming

Explaining handout

Thanking Fire Department for use of space

Introduction of Directors

Introduction to Survey,

-results of survey

-responses to age groups

-244 responses

-198 kids

*432 residents accounted for

Explaining our purpose around the survey

-school and kids and access to services

-Community Centre / School

-hybrid school explanation

-community and school aspect

-community results / 81% responded communication about services suggested

-weddings

-business

-recreation opportunities

-garden clubs

Business input aspect:

Community Centre / School (also known as a Hybrid Model)

Letters of support North Fraser First Nations, as well as from the District of Mission, Parks and Recreation Department.

There were also many other letters of interest for renting space in the school.

Julia and Courtney spoke about our meetings with Corrien Becker (Missions School Board, Secretary Treasure), and Angus Wilson (Mission School Board, Superintendent):

- They were both very receptive to the Community Approach.

- Angus spoke to us about his experience in Haida Gwaii, as their Superintendent.

- He told us about how he developed Hybrid Schools in Haida Gwaii

- Our meetings went very well, and we look forward to continuing to work with them

- If you would like to know more about Angus’s thoughts after the meeting, please see the following newspaper article link:

Courtney explaining our community Website and how local businesses can advertise on this site within the Stave Falls Community

Introduction of Keith- 40+ years Stave Falls resident

-Stave Falls Garden Association

-Reading Constitution

-Resurrected association so they can own Stave Falls old deteriorated Hall.

-They are likely to get money once sold and have this put back into the community.

-Have had one meeting so far to determine directors.

-infancy stages and working to develop their strategy

Introduction of Jim Taylor- 38 years Stave Fall resident

-Resident and Mission School Board Trustee.

-Wasn't happy with the direction School Board was going and wanted to run to make positive changes when Mission closed 5 schools, including Stave Falls

-Explaining the difficulty with budget, but feels very optimistic about our approach

-He recommended if we can show the school is viable we will have a chance to have reopening it considered

-Recommends that we continue to engage the School District often to keep our project on their radar.

Q. How many kids were attending Stave before closed

1. 114

Q. Owen Davidson

Is the Hall Property Crown Property or where does the actual legal ownership reside, and what are their plans for the community.

1. The property is unsafe, legally the property is owned by the Stave Falls Garden Society, and they plan on selling the land

Q. question for Keith - Was told Stave Hall was not given permission to be sold, is there a personal agenda?

1. Keith is looking for input, and having a general meeting that the community can have input in as to the long term planning

Q. David Lane- this hasn't been transparent, who elected you?

1. Phil Cooper - explaining his position as to why Stave Falls Garden took ownership of the Hall

Open discussion explaining the differences between the two associations

-talking about what happens because of the hall

-they would like to see this gone

Q. Suzie - How many kids k-6 would be going to Stave Falls

1. From our survey, we were able to find 87 kids age 5-12, out of only 244 responses. In total, there are 734 Residences, and Businesses in Stave Falls. We mailed out to all of them, asking them to do the survey.

Q. Alisha - What numbers did the school board actually have for this area in regards to children

1. They don't have anything that we know of and currently depend on our associations numbers through our surveys and the information we have received from Facebook group inquiries

Peter Tam - Green Party MLA Candidate for the Mission and Maple Ridge- Introduced himself:

-Thinks the idea is great and potential MLA office area, core battle will be successful with recent class size and composition win in terms of funding in his opinion

Q. Owen Davidson- do numbers really justify the school re opening

1. Courtney- hybrid model doesn't depend on these numbers

Q. No Communication - long period without hearing anything since last meeting

1. Courtney discussed what kinks we are working with, and places to hold meetings is sparse, explaining having the school will make community meetings much easier to hold in the future

Q. What school district is the school in

1. Mission School District, however, many of the children from Stave Falls, attend school in the Maple Ridge District.

Diana explains how we recommend that the District share information about where residential development projects are in Mission with the school board, so that the school board can plan for additional pressures on their schools.

Q. Is your board excepting new members ?

A. You are all members explained by Julia

Meeting commenced 8:15pm