A local school site was a hot topic of conversation this past summer.

The Chinook School Division sold the property of the closed Oman School site to the city in June. The land was originally donated to the school division by John Oman in 1913 for the purpose of a school and many local residents feared the city would tear it down and instead build commercial or residential properties.

Among the number of people speaking out was John Oman's great grandson’s John and Omar Oman.

"He was a sort of serious, conservative, Scottish shepherd. He worked for the "76" Ranches, and ran all their sheep from Moose Jaw to Maple Creek - it was a big, big operation. He donated that land, I am sure it should be community land. It’s really part of the pioneering history and some generosity.” said John.

Omar agreed that his great grandfather intended the land to be used for community use.

"He could have sold it himself in 1912 if he wished to, he didn't he donated it. So the land was donated for public use. School, playground, ball parks, it was donated for public use only,"

Despite the school being closed, local resident Sheldon Paulhus said the grounds are still used on a daily basis.

"It's kind of Swift Current's second dog park and it's the second most popular place to fly a kite on the kite festival weekend. There use to be T-Ball and when the playground was going there were always kids. It's still used by multiple people every day. Clearly there is a need for a green space in and around this area of the south side,"

Local residents are open to ideas for the space as long as it remains usable by the public as Paulhus explains.

"If they turn it into ball diamonds or a football field or a soccer field or a south side track or something, that would also be just as good as leaving it completely green and open. We're definitely up for anything that is usable by the public and not just streets and roads and houses and condos," he said.

If the grounds are converted and it no longer remains as a green space, local children will be required to walk six or seven blocks to Riverside or Southside park.

Paulhus says the more green spaces a city has, the better a place it is and clearly the Oman School grounds are being used so local's want to use it.

The community of Swift Current wanted to ensure the history of the site would not be forgotten as Chief Financial Officer with the Chinook School Division, Rod Quinton explained.

"The community wanted to maintain some sort of commemorative marker for the stone, which was taken off of one of the older buildings there at some point in the past. Once the property has been determined, we will place that stone back as a commemorative marker."

In September, Mayor Jarrod Schafer addressed the issue of the land and announced that once the land sale was complete all residents would have a chance to express their input towards the eventual land use.