There was no bigger roller coaster ride story in 2024 than that of the Campus of Care proposal in the Town of The Blue Mountains.
Campus of Care was a proposed development at 125 Peel Street for 160 long-term-care beds, another 160 beds available as attainable labour force housing, 300 multi-family units, 80 daycare spaces, community gardens, pickleball courts, a playground, and 250+ retirement living beds.
Through the year, news surrounding the proposed project rose and dipped and then came to an abrupt and final end with the termination of the entire possibility.
Town officials spent a significant portion of the year negotiating with private developers to Campus of Care come to fruition. In the meantime, the servicing of the land at 125 Peel Street and the work that project would require became a hot-button topic in the community and generated significant public opposition.
Ultimately, the town and the developers could not come to an agreement to move the Campus of Care forward. The reasons for the project’s failure to launch are many, but one of the prime issues was increased development charges. The town’s new development charges bylaw increases the town’s charges significantly. In addition, the provincial government walked back its plans to implement a five-year phase-in of new development changes. These increased costs – which were not in place at the time negotiations began – pushed the project into the category of being unviable.
The demise of the project is truly unfortunate for the community. The Campus of Care was certainly an ambitious and bold proposal. It was also much needed in the community. Long-term care beds, staff housing and affordable/attainable housing are all desperately needed in The Blue Mountains.
Many questions about what happened and how the project came to this conclusion remain. However, the biggest question that has to be answered is: what happens next?
The town continues to own the land at 125 Peel Street. The allotment of 160 long-term care beds from the province is still in place. The zoning for the property created by the province's community infrastructure and housing accelerator process is still in effect.
Could the Campus of Care return in the future when the project is more financially viable? Can a smaller version be contemplated? Could a smaller piece of the property be set aside for a long-term care home only with other components to come in the future?
What happens with the 125 Peel Street property could be an interesting future story.
Here are a number of Campus of Care highlights from 2024:
