Real criteria

One of three conceptual drawings prepared to illustrate various site development opportunities. Each pays particular attention to retaining green space for the benefit of all residents.

Plan to spur Age-in-Place development nears the final stretch

The growing demand for health care and housing alternatives for the County’s aging population won’t all be met on the lands surrounding McFarland Memorial Home. This is one of the messages emerging from the last of three public consultations held to consider the development of the County’s Age-in-Place strategy in general and the 25-acre property on which the nursing home sits in particular.

The Age-in-Place strategy arose last year out of recognition among municipal administrators that they could no longer ignore the pressures of an aging community looming on the horizon. Nor could they wait for the private sector to solve issues of seniors housing, affordable housing and evolving health care delivery in this community.

The Age-in-Place strategy that emerged focused on unlocking the potential of the property upon which Mc- Farland Memorial Home sits. County officials pro-actively compiled regulatory and servicing information governing the property. It also set expectations of greenspace and common areas.

The plan was presented to an assortment of developers, seniors and health care agencies, as well as community organizations with the goal of spurring investment in the kind of development that would address the community’s needs.

From that proactive market stimulation Nautical Lands Group stepped forward with a proposal to develop a multiunit retirement residence. There were missteps along the way. The developer’s first proposal was to locate the buildings on the vast lawns in front of the McFarland home.

After hearing loud, sustained objection by Mc- Farland residents and others, Nautical Lands changed their plans to locate their residence behind the existing home. Council then moved to protect the front lawn from any future development.

In response the Age in Place strategy was substantially modified. It was then presented to the public through three meetings. Municipal officials had planned just two public meetings, but participants in the process insisted they see the plan once more before it went to council for approval.

That last meeting happened earlier this month.

“We wanted to make a point that the feedback we were hearing at these meetings was being heard,” said Neil Carbone, community development officer, the Shire Hall staffer charged with carrying this file. “Further, we wanted to demonstrate that wherever possible, this feedback was being incorporated into the master plan proposal.”

Carbone says the most of the approximately 30 participants were reassured to see the plan once more and to see their concerns reflected in the document that will go before council in the coming weeks and ultimately shape development on the McFarland Home property.

“In the third meeting the questions tended to be considering the longer term,” said Carbone, “Issues like the growing demand for health care among an aging population in the County. We had feedback too on the design of the project and the master plan itself.”

But the key point to come out of the public consultation is that this bit of land can’t address the many and varied needs of an aging community.

“Almost everyone agreed that there are a lot of different needs to be addressed in terms of health care and seniors housing and we are not going to be able to put everything on this site—affordable housing, seniors housing, transitional accommodation, respite care. The age-in-place strategy is just one way we will be able to address some of those needs, but it won’t address all.

“We are talking about a 25-acre parcel of property— much of which is taken up by the green space in front of the home that won’t be touched. About four acres is being developed by a retirement home developer. So there is not a lot of space left to deal with.”

the existing McFarland Memorial Home is subject to redevelopment in the next decade. A plan must be submitted to the governing provincial ministries prior to 2015. This plan will, surely, be shaped by demographic and population trends. But also by the elusive logic of provincial funding agencies.

So far it is unclear what these trends mean for the existing nursing home.

“There are many unknowns,” said Carbone. “However there is enough flexibility in the plan to accommodate these unknowns.”

The Age in Place strategy next moves to council’s table where it will be considered, likely at the September 26 meeting of the committee of the whole. If approved, it must then be ratified by council. But Carbone says this plan doesn’t end the pursuit of solutions to address our housing and health care needs as more of us seek alternatives here in the County.

“This is an ongoing process and discussion,” said Carbone. “We aren’t done.”

Nor does it mean the end of the hurdles that Nautical Lands must overcome. Once the master plan is adopted, a complete site development plan including servicing details must be approved before the holding symbol can be removed from the four acres sold to Nautical Lands. Only then can they submit their site plan, which, according to Carbone, must meet council’s criteria.

“There are quite a few controls in the process,” said Carbone. “This isn’t windowdressing. There are very specific development guidelines. These guidelines will form real criteria when further development comes along.”