A Vancouver school has filed legal action against the $3-billion Broadway Subway Project, alleging the project agreement has been breached in numerous places, putting children’s safety at risk.
“We are extremely frustrated with this lack of action on children’s safety. We are terrified that a serious accident is just waiting to happen,” St. Augustine School principal Michael Yaptinchay said. “The Arbutus Subway Station construction started with no safety measures in place to protect the school children aged 3-12, and this needs to be rectified immediately.”
The school has a student population of 450.
Also named in the petition, filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Dec. 13, are the provincial government and the B.C. Transportation Financing Authority.
The school wants significant improvements to safeguard children’s safety around the construction site.
The school alleges the project has failed to:
- produce or follow a traffic management plan;
- produce or follow a noise and vibration plan;
- install noise barriers;
- and consult the school on mitigation measures prior to the start of construction.
The school asks that multiple safety measures be put in place immediately.
“Our school community is very disappointed and extremely concerned about the lack of appropriate measures to protect the health and safety of the school children, despite our calling for traffic, noise, vibration, dust and other mitigation measures for nearly two years,” Yaptinchay said. “We have been frustrated and ignored at every attempt to protect our students and we are now forced to ask the B.C. Supreme Court to order that safety measures be implemented immediately.”
St. Augustine School calls the situation "urgent" and is asking B.C. Supreme Court to schedule a hearing "as soon as possible."
Yaptinchay said the school supports the Broadway Subway in principle but the lack of mitigation to protect students is unacceptable.
Spokespeople for the project, transportation authority and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure were not immediately available for comment.
