(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

KAMLOOPS - Thompson Rivers University has decided it's not interested and the City of Kamloops still isn't sure what can be done with Stuart Wood School.

The city’s chief administrator David Trawin says the city has been going back and forth with the provincial Ministry of Education about what uses are allowed in the building. According to provincial policy the building must be used for educational purposes.

Trawin says the city is running ideas past the ministry to find out what they would be allowed to use the building for, but says discussions are in camera right now, so he can’t comment on any individual concepts.

“Council is batting around ideas,” he says.

Right now the city is going around in circles trying to find out what can be done with the property, with each idea being run past the ministry, Trawin says. If nothing can be worked out with the ministry he says the city will have to work through crown lands.

The city's first idea for a tenant was Thompson Rivers University, but Matt Milovick,the university’s vice president administration, says they aren’t considering taking over the whole property, though the university may be interested in using some space if another tenant is moving in.

“If the building were to be tenanted by other users and they were looking for help in filling some of the space, we could use that residual space for contract training, possibly a downtown law clinic, or a number of other minor uses,” he says in an email.

Stuart Wood School is closing at the end of the school year, ending the lease the district currently has with the city. The city has budgeted maintenance costs and looked into the structure of the building but is still hoping to obtain a new leasee for the property.

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