Although progress may seem limited on the Poplar Regional Health and Wellness Village project at the corner of Poplar Side Road and Raglan St., a lot went on behind the scenes this year to prepare for the future to come.
The Poplar Regional Health and Wellness Village proposal for 130 acres on the northeast corner of Poplar Sideroad and Raglan Street was first brought forward to Collingwood council in March 2022 by proponents Di Poce Management Ltd. and Live Work Learn Play Inc.
According to the initial vision for the project presented to council, there would be seven key areas incorporated into the design of the village, including a regional health and wellness campus, a market district, long-term care/assisted living facilities, bioscience and medical research facilities, an eco-wellness centre, a regional transit hub, student and workforce housing, and sports medicine clinics.
The developers intended to seek an MZO — a controversial provincial tool to fast-track a change of zoning on a piece of land with provincial authority bypassing the municipal zoning process — to change the zoning of the property from industrial to mixed-use to allow for the community hub-style development.
The MZO was granted in November 2022, amid some controversy at that time, which included the newly elected mayor, Yvonne Hamlin, trying to put a hold on the MZO.
In December 2023 — more than one year later — the town finally signed a development agreement with the developer which included that 10 per cent of the housing built would be affordable/attainable housing, and a promise to donate 32 acres for a new Collingwood General and Marine Hospital build. Also that month, the province announced the Poplar MZO was among 14 projects across Ontario marked for enhanced monitoring due to limited progress.
That monitoring is still ongoing, which the province has said will continue into 2025.
In April of this year, the town publicly released the memorandum of understanding.
In October, Armando Lopes, vice president of development with Di Poce Management Ltd., told CollingwoodToday that conversations were ongoing between proponent Di Poce Management and Collingwood General and Marine Hospital to finalize details on the land donation as part of the development for a future hospital build.
As of then, Lopes said the vision for the project was still in line with what was presented to the public in 2022. Once the hospital donation details are agreed upon, Lopes said the development team will get to hammering out the logistics of the rest of the proposal.
Ecologists attended the 130-acre site this year, along with the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority, to delineate where the sensitive natural environmental areas exist.
Lopes said Di Poce Management Ltd. has been providing the province with quarterly updates on progress as part of the enhanced monitoring.
On Dec. 3, the auditor general released a full report on the provincial government’s use of MZOs, which included a case study regarding how the MZO came together for the Poplar Village project, noting that due diligence had not been done by the province before it was approved.
A little more than one week later, on Dec. 12, the province announced they were giving the hospital $95 million to help cover the costs of planning and designing a new hospital to be built on a new site, on the 32-acres in the Poplar Village development.
The same day John Di Poce of Di Poce Management Ltd. died at 89. According to Simcoe-Grey MPP Brian Saunderson, one of Di Poce’s last acts was to sign the letter of intent with the hospital for the donation of the land for the new hospital build.
