TVDSB begins expropriation in Belmont

Thames Valley District School Board trustees on Tuesday, Aug. 30, ordered the start of legal proceedings to expropriate land for a new elementary school in Belmont from Craigholme Estates, a developer in that village.

Facility Services and Capital Planning Superintendent Geoff Vogt said that the board had taken all the steps it could to try to purchase the land without resorting to expropriation.

“To date, the developer has not agreed to sell the site to the TVDSB and thus an expropriation is necessary,” he stated.

In response to a question from Middlesex Trustee Sean Hunt, Mr. Vogt said that the Ontario Ministry of Education’s Land Priorities program would pay the costs associated with the expropriation.

He estimated completing the expropriation would take from six to 12 months.

For more information, see the Sept. 7 Aylmer Express.