Should a new school be built in the Kamloops downtown core? That’s a question that one city councillor is asking after the release of a draft downtown plan.

Speaking on the NL Morning News, Bill Sarai says he hopes it is something that is identified sooner rather than later.

“If we are going to try and get different types of housing and attract families and young families to live downtown they are going to have children and we don’t have a school downtown,” he said. “So it’s hard to predict the future of housing when you don’t have a plan in place for a school.”

Sarai says the city will have to sit down with School District 73 to identify potential downtown sites where a school could be built.

“It’s up to the developer now. Is he going to hold off until someone commits to a new school? Or does a school not commit until they see the numbers there?” he noted. “So it puts us council in a tough spot because we can’t predict, either or.”

With the closing of Stuart Wood Elementary in 2016, there are no schools left in the Kamloops downtown core.

As it stands though, the School District though has identified Pineview as a priority area for a new school in the city.