Vancouver School Board criticized over 99-year lease to developer [Video]

The Vancouver School Board (VSB) is facing heavy criticism after its trustees moved to issue a 99-year lease to a private developer, which is set to build a mixed-use commercial and rental building on school property.

A majority of the board voted on Wednesday to pass bylaws to kickstart the disposal process for 1.6 hectares of “surplus” land, just south of Sir Sandford Fleming Elementary School, which will be leased to Vittori Developments, which has more than 500 rental units in the Greater Vancouver area, according to its website. 

The board says the process to dispose of the surplus land was started by the previous school board, after a public consultation process, and the resulting rental building will see preference given to VSB employees.

But opponents of the lease say the board’s public consultation was rushed and limited in nature, and the market-rate rental building will be unaffordable to many teachers and VSB employees.

In addition, critics say the move to issue a …