The Campus of Care project may be officially dead, but the Town of The Blue Mountains council would still like to look at opportunities for 160 long-term care beds to be developed in the community.
At a special meeting on Nov. 25 (the special meeting was called to complete the agenda from a previous council meeting), council voted unanimously to accept a report from CAO Shawn Everitt, who was absent for the meeting, that formally terminates further consideration of the Campus of Care project.
However, the resolution was amended by Deputy Mayor Peter Bordignon to include a paragraph inviting peopleCare to work with the town to explore opportunities on other town-owned land for a potential long-term care development.
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.
The town was negotiating the sale of a portion of the town-owned property on Peel Street to Skyline and peopleCare for the Campus of Care proposal. The developers would have purchased 18.7 acres of the property from the town for $15 million.
The Campus of Care project failed due to rising costs that put the project out of reach for the developers, Skyline Development Acquisitions, selected by the town for the project. PeopleCare had been selected by the town to develop the long-term care aspect of the campus project, which also included affordable/attainable housing units and work force housing.
The provincial government awarded the town 160 long-term care beds that were to be part of the campus project. The bed allotment is still in place and the future of those beds is a top-of-the-mind concern for members of council.
“People in the Town of The Blue Mountains want the beds,” said Coun. June Porter. “They want to know how council is going to make that happen.”
In his motion, Bordignon asked for the town to invite peopleCare to review other properties owned by the municipality for possible opportunities to use the 160 long-term care bed allotment.
“Let’s work to see if there are alternatives,” he said.
In the absence of Everitt, Adam Smith, the town’s director of planning and development services, spoke to the report about the end of the Campus of Care project.
Smith said local and provincial changes to development charges had pushed the costs too high for the project creating the “unfortunate situation” ending with the termination of negotiations with the developer.
Coun. Alex Maxwell asked if the zoning for the property, put in place through a Community Infrastructure and Housing Accelerator (CIHA) order from the province, remained in place with the project now finished.
Smith said the zoning created by the CIHA order remains in place on the property. However, he explained that the town continues to own the property and has control over what happens at the site.
The CAO’s report also noted that approximately $150,000 was spent during the negotiation phase process. It noted that 85 per cent of those costs were for pre-development studies that the town will be able to use as it looks at future uses for the property.
The report did not speak to future uses of the property at 125 Peel Street, a matter that council will have to decide in the future.
