The Blue Mountains council has thrown its support behind a plan by local municipalities to tell the provincial government the Poplar Sideroad site is where the new Collingwood Hospital should be built.
At its meeting on Feb. 20, council unanimously approved a plan to sent a joint letter - along with the Town of Collingwood, Town of Wasaga Beach, Township of Clearview and Municipality of Grey Highlands - to provincial health minister and deputy premier Sylvia Jones indicating the desire to see the new hospital built at the Poplar Sideroad location.
“Recently, we learned that the construction of the new hospital has encountered further delays and the Infrastructure Ontario Market Update has now extended the project timeline by fifteen months. The approval of the greenfield build site for the hospital is the crucial first step in the process of realizing a new healthcare facility for South Georgian Bay,” the draft letter to be signed by the mayors of the five municipalities states. “The move to a greenfield build for the regional hospital is, in our view, the optimal choice for the communities we serve.”
At this point in the process to redevelop the Collingwood hospital, the province has not committed to a final location for the hospital.
Local leaders are expressing solidarity on the Poplar location over an option to redevelop on the current hospital site, as a new facility would be a much quicker process and would save money.
During council’s discussion on the matter, Mayor Andrea Matrosovs said redeveloping the current site could possibly double the timeline and increase the expense.
“It’s completely different costs,” she said.
