Regina group wants to save a school that hasn't been built

A social media campaign has been launched to have a school built in Regina's Skywood neighbourhood, a location that was abandoned when development costs were viewed as too high.

Instead of Skywood, city council approved using land in another location: Coopertown.

But some people, who live in Lakeridge, are calling on the city and the province to reconsider the Skywood location.

Dean Gerhardt started a Facebook page called Save Skywood School. He said that location makes more sense for families.

"There are children everywhere in Lakeridge," Gerhardt said. "There is no subdivision [in Regina] that has the density of toddlers that we have here."

City council in Regina recently approved a change in location for a future school. The city received $6 million from the province for three schools that will be built under a public-private partnership (P3) arrangement. The money is to cover the value of the land the city makes available for the schools as well as servicing costs.

Council was told the developer was encountering higher than expected costs with the Skywood location.

"If we're short a couple million dollars on an infrastructure gap or a few million dollars, I'd like to see all levels of government — province, municipal and the developer — sit down and say 'We know this is the right location for a school, the school boards have told us this is the right location, let's sit down and get this right instead of getting it done fast,'" Gerhardt said.

His Facebook campaign is urging supporters to contact their city council member or MLA.