The Save AB Ellis Public School Committee has been busy over the last year forming a legal entity, gathering petition signatures and setting up a feasibility study.
The school temporarily houses students and staff of Sacred Heart School who are expected to move into their new school in January.
Once that happens, the Rainbow District School Board has stated the building must be sold or it will be demolished.
Committee Co-Chair Fred Yackman presented the council with a petition signed by 1,075 people and letters of support, including the Domtar Mill, asking the council to consider the building be kept for alternative purposes instead of being demolished.
Yackman also told the council the committee has formed the Rainbow Community Non-Profit Housing Corporation, a legal entity to move the project forward.
He adds the corporation received an anonymous donation to finance a feasibility study to look at converting the building to rental housing.
Angela Roy of ARC Management Services has been hired to carry out the study and told the council her team will hire an architect and appraiser to review the design plans and costs of conversion to residential housing.
They will report back to the council in early 2021.