The City of Moose Jaw, Holy Trinity Catholic School Division, and Prairie South School Division want your opinion on the Westheath Joint Use School. 

A proposed concept plan has been completed and the next step is to get the public’s feedback. 

Concept plan designer Alan Wallace of Wallace Insights, project developer Mike Sazynski of Colliers Project Leaders, and Michelle Sanson, Director of Planning and Development for the City of Moose Jaw, were on the City’s Notorious Jawcast to talk about the project. 

An original concept plan for Westheath phases 5 and 6 was made in 2018 until the local school divisions approached the city about adding a joint-use school into the subdivision. 

"It's a big project and a big undertaking with, you know this area not having any services, not having any roads. So, we’re working through a lot of that,” Sanson said on the Jawcast. 

The school is expected to take up 10 acres in the subdivision and cost about $50 million to build. 

There have been a few challenges along the way including the need for a traffic assessment. 

“The reason this one is taking so long is that we're working within an existing neighborhood, and that's challenging to do,” Wallace said.  

“Westheath initially was not intended or planned initially to have a school, but there are 34 acres left here in Westheath, and there's an opportunity to add a school.” 

The concept plan includes a number of traffic mitigating measures including bus corrals, 200-metre-long car drop-off lanes, and off-street staff and visitor parking. 

Wallace said one of the features he likes is the fact that the school is facing south so the busiest area will be on the south side of the school where there are no surrounding residential lots. 

“What's really nice about that is it offers a green space that's centralized to the Westgate neighborhood. It's surrounded by residential lots. They're looking at a park. They're not looking directly at a school,” Wallace said. 

You can find the concept plan and a link to the survey here. The survey and public consultation will be open until May 6. 

Below is a full version of the Notorious Jawcast: