Author: SFA Editor

Last week we received our “Prior- To- Letter of Notification” from the City of Vancouver which is another positive step forward. This feedback from the City provides our architectural and project team with comments and next steps for planning refinement prior to the final issuance of the school’s DEVELOPMENT PERMIT expected within the next couple of months.

The We’re Building for the Future Capital Campaign is now underway to collect pledges for the final 10% of the total project cost. We only have the final $1.5 Million out of the total $12.0 Million budget outstanding.

We are grateful to the following members of our SFA community who are a part of the Capital Campaign Committee led by Father Gino and Barbara Broughton our Capital Campaign Director:

• Paul Kingsbury
• Carla Hudson-Kam
• Glenna Pollon
• Lily Leung
• Michelle Burns
• Meri Macia
• Tom Rukavina
• Kim Ashford

 
The goal of our committee will be to meet individually with all the parents in our school. These meetings will help us to continue to build our SFA community; to provide parents with a more in-depth knowledge of the project and the Campaign; and to consider what they will be able to thoughtfully and proportionately pledge to the We’re Building for the Future Capital Campaign.

Please give our volunteers the courtesy of meeting with them when they contact you to schedule these visits.

The rebuilding of St. Francis of Assisi Elementary School is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and will leave our entire neighbourhood stronger as strong and vibrant schools are a key component of strong vibrant communities.

With blessings,

Father Eugenio Aloisio
Pastor

Mrs. Anne Yam
Principal

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We hope you all had an enjoyable summer with some quality family time. September is a wonderful month in the school calendar as the weather is fair – and staff, parents, and students are fresh and excited to be back.

We have very good news to share. We are pleased to announce that the subjects were removed on the sale of the convent site in early July and the initial deposit has been paid to the parish – so that site is officially sold. And with this sale, we now have an initial capital investment of $4.7 Million for our school building project.

Also, over the summer we secured our loan agreement with the Archdiocese and have now received in writing final approval to proceed with the school redevelopment from Archbishop Miller. Our “Approval in Principle” is for a 14-year loan of $1.5 Million dollars with the requirement that the school community also raises at least a further $1.5 Million via school fundraising activities and a capital campaign. As most of you know, many years of parent fundraising have already occurred, so we already have a starting project balance of $300,000. To be financially prudent, we must, however, raise the remaining $1.2 Million, or have donors committed, before we break ground.

And the final piece of the financial structure will include funds from the subdivision and eventual sale of the under-utilized garden space at the back of the church and rectory. We will be proceeding with the sale of this land over the next year committing most of the proceeds to the school with a small amount held in reserve to address some critical repairs that are required in the church and rectory.

Financial Summary

With these important milestones achieved, we have directed our team to commence work on the Development Permit (DP) submission and will start planning for the forthcoming Capital Campaign. We will share more on this in the coming months, but in the meantime, if you want to be part of the team that helps to rebuild our school, please contact any member of our teaching staff, the parish office, Barbara Broughton, or reach out to us at buildsfaschool@sfa.ca.

If you are new to the school and want to familiarise yourself with SFA’s redevelopment plans, please go to the school website for further background.

With blessings,

Father Eugenio Aloisio
Pastor

Mrs. Anne Yam
Principal

As the end of the school year is upon us, we want to thank our parish community, school staff, families, and supporters who have drawn together to make this most unprecedented school year a success. Our children enjoyed a safe, successful, albeit altered academic year, led by our Grade 7 class who had their graduation ceremony on June 23rd. We wish them much success as they move forward to other schools, friendships, and adventures.

On the redevelopment front, we submitted our financial business case to Archbishop Miller and the Archdiocesan Finance Council last week and are in the process of negotiating the terms of the loan. In the expectation of this, we have our architectural firm, KMBR, on stand-by to start our Development Permit (DP) submission. The DP allows the City of Vancouver to “ensure the livability and functionality of neighbourhoods by regulating the built form and ensuring land uses are appropriately located.”

The continuing positive news on COVID should mean that in September we can all come back as a community and renew our cherished values of community building via volunteerism and engagement. Starting this fall we hope that all our long-standing school and parish traditions such as the open celebration of masses, the Welcome BBQ, gala, family dance, and carnival will be back with renewed vigour and focus so we need our families to please come forward to lead and support these events. If you want to be part of the team that helps to rebuild our school, please contact us over the summer at buildsfaschool@sfa.ca

We wish you all a happy summer with your friends and family.

With blessings,

Father Eugenio Aloisio
Pastor

Mrs. Anne Yam
Principal

We hope that you all enjoyed a safe and happy spring break and Easter.

As you know the convent site was listed for sale at the end of February and we accepted offers in early March. We have had several offers but as this is a land development sale, not a residential sale, the subjects and timelines to completion are longer. Our realtor is continuing to negotiate on our behalf and we will let you know once the sale is finalised.

The City of Vancouver has completed an initial review of Phase 1 of our ‘New and Renew in 3 Phases’ school redevelopment plan and indicated that “it is supportable” and that “we may move forward with the formal Development Permit (DP) application and submission”. The DP submission is a 4-month design process whereby we engage the architect, civil, structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers along with a landscape consultant to further develop our drawings to a DP level. The DP will be based on these current schematic drawings. Click Here. The new 2-story wing (with basement) will double the square footage of indoor space of the school. It will contain the new gymnasium and change facilities along with the new school entranceway, administration space, library, a multi-use/music room, and the new kindergarten room. This large new addition will dramatically improve the learning environment for our children by giving them some much needed extra space for play, learning, and bathroom breaks!

Once the new wing is completed, as part of Phase 2 some of the classes will be rearranged in the current school so that the primary grades will be on the bottom floor and intermediate grades will be on the main floor. We will have a clearer understanding of the project timelines once our DP has been submitted to the City. We note that DP approval from the City could be up to 6-8 months after submission. The present target date for school opening is the 2023 school year.

If you are wondering how you can get involved and support our school, please support the 75th anniversary St. Francis of Assisi Cookbook. The finished product will be a wonderful keepsake for your family but will also be a way to show the commitment of our school to our community and future donors. The team is now compiling, formatting, and printing the book with the aim of having sales start in June.

 
With blessings,
 
Father Eugenio Aloisio
Pastor
 
Mrs. Anne Yam
Principal
 

During the season of Lent, which began this year on February 17, we make our Lenten sacrifices and sometimes it feels like a long time until we celebrate the joy of the Resurrection. We can draw a parallel with the building of our school as we make our sacrifices and wait a long time for the joy of realizing our new school – but it will come.

We have received approval from the Building Commission of the Archdiocese of Vancouver to proceed with the development of the school as proposed and as outlined in January’s update. As such, we will now begin to work in partnership with the Archdiocese to develop an achievable financial plan with a Capital Campaign.

We have heard back from our planner at the City of Vancouver who, as expected, has requested some further information, so we are in the process of complying with this request. We are planning a meeting with the Director of Planning to ask for relaxation for the need for on-site parking and for some easements with regards to set backs on our boundaries.

The convent site was listed on the MLS last week. As you know, the funds from this sale will form the cornerstone of the money that will be required to “Renew and Refresh” our school building so we ask that each and every one of you pray for its successful completion.

Like you, we are enjoying the first signs of spring, and hopefully the ability to share in-person Masses once again with our community. Be well and be safe.

With blessings,

Father Eugenio Aloisio
Pastor

Mrs. Anne Yam
Principal

We celebrate the New Year and new term and are continuing the design and approvals process for our school redevelopment project. To keep within our budget constraints our current vision for the school is to build a new wing with an added classroom and multi-use space for music and after-school club, administration space and a new standard-sized elementary gymnasium. After completion we would complete a basic seismic upgrade of the existing school block. This design concept would create many benefits for the children with more that twice our current square footage and it would allow us to retire our ‘temporary’ portable Grade 2 classroom and open the front of the school to outside play space.

We have shared this design scheme with the Directors of Construction Renewal and Finance at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver (RCAV) who were positive and approved the project to move to the next stage of review and approval within the Archdiocese which is the Building Commission. This volunteer board has been created by the RCAV to help parishes achieve success and is comprised of Parishioners from around the region who are current or former builders and trades who are experienced in infrastructure renewal and are in place to help to assure the viability of projects and the accuracy of budgets of the various school renewal projects with the Greater Vancouver area. Once we have acted on any recommendations of the Building Commission, we would then go the RCAV Finance Counsel to secure and finalise the terms of our project financing including final mortgage amounts required and the final number that would need to be raised via a St. Francis of Assisi Capital Campaign. This is an iterative process as the final budget will impact the final design and we expect it to take several months. When this has been completed to the satisfaction of the Parish and the RCAV the project receives final approval – or Approval in Principle – from Archbishop Miller to proceed.

In the interim, we have received final permission from RCAV to proceed with selling the convent site. We will be meeting with the St. Francis of Assisi Parish Leadership Team next week to review the conditions of the sale after which we expect the property will be listed. We are not planning on putting up a sign, but we will keep you informed of the progress. The sale of this land will form the cornerstone of our Capital Campaign which cannot commence until the sale is secure and the financing discussions with the Archdiocese have been agreed.

These small steps are all positive, but we still have many more to come with an expected planning and development timeline of about 2 years. We thank you and the many parents who have already graduated from our school for the continued commitment and enthusiasm to Build our School for the Future.

If you are looking for ways to connect with the Campaign or are looking for more information please check our new school building webpage.

Wishing you a most blessed and joyful Christmas,

Father Eugenio Aloisio
Pastor

Mrs. Anne Yam
Principal