GUELPH – For more than a year, a sign on county-owned land near the Wellington Terrace in Aboyne has announced the “proposed location” of an “inclusive seniors village,” but it seems the project is not going ahead after all.
On Nov. 28 county council voted in favour of a recommendation to direct staff to cease the development plans for the “Continuum of Care” project, which was to have provided a variety of seniors’ housing options, including affordable and market-based rental and life-lease units.
County chief administrative officer Scott Wilson, who prepared the report to council, said the Continuum of Care project has been in the works for about eight years.
It was to have included 254 units and housed as many as 400 people, Wilson said.
But with estimates ballooning from a preliminary cost of $88 million to a projected cost of $135 million, four years ago, council approved a plan to seek funding from other levels of government.
Since then “we have been refining our approach to finding funding,” said Wilson.
His report to council stated that earlier this year the warden established a working committee to review the viability of the project.
The committee included Warden Andy Lennox and councillors Earl Campbell and Matthew Bulmer, and their work was supported by a number of county staff members.
They met four times through the spring and fall to consider the merits of the overall project and its independent components, the report stated.
“Previous costing of the project estimated a net cost to the county of approximately $2 million annually; updated estimates produced an annual cost of $5 million,” it stated.
“Staff have continued to research opportunities for financial assistance from federal and provincial sources, to reduce the county share of costs, but no new offerings could be identified.”
Along with the recommendation to cease plans, the report also recommended staff be directed to return the remaining funds from the project – approximately $6.75 million – to a reserve, and report to council on alternative uses for the money.
Asked how much the county had already invested in the project, Wilson told the Advertiser approximately $414,000 has been spent, including $90,000 in federal funding.
During the meeting, councillor Mary Lloyd asked about a communication plan to let people know the project was being suspended, noting the sign at Wellington Place “has stimulated much conversation in the community.”
“We haven’t developed a communication plan announcing the cancellation of this initiative,” Wilson told council.
But he added advertising in the newspaper would likely be sufficient.
Wilson told the Advertiser the sign had been put up as part of “efforts to secure provincial and federal funding” at a time when Associate Minister of Housing Nina Tangri was expected to visit.
The intention was not to sell units, but “to help the minister visualize what we were proposing,” Wilson said.
The sign will soon come down.
Campbell clarified that the committee is recommending the remaining money from the project be transferred to another housing-related project.
Lennox thanked the committee for its efforts to examine the viability of the project and to try to keep the project going.
“We didn’t see a way forward, and unfortunately this is the recommendation that has come out of that effort,” he said.
