Public has say in land development near mega-hospital

Windsor and Essex County residents had a chance to voice their opinion and help define what the surrounding area of the proposed mega-hospital site could look like, before the plans are submitted to city council.

People had a chance to look at the draft land use concept Wednesday at Place Concorde. The concept was created by Stantec Consulting Ltd.

Place Concorde was picked because of its proximity to where the new hospital is planned to be built. So, residents most affected by the zoning changes could have their say.

It's part of a secondary plan for the overall planning application process with the city of Windsor. It's to figure out the land uses around the new hospital, said Krista Walkey, a planner with Stantec Consulting Ltd.

"In order to advance the application with the ministry, we need to ensure the land use is in place to support the hospital," Walkey said.

The Stantec concept has zones for:

• Low density residential housing; single-home dwellings, semi-detached homes
• Medium/high density residential housing; townhouses, four-story or higher apartments
• Park/open space; land protected from development, but allows for recreation
• Commercial centre; retail and commercial
• Natural heritage; protects natural heritage features
• Business park; offices, business
• Mixed use; uses related to adjacent hospital site like long-term care facilities
• Core mixed use; retail, office, residential
• Major institutional; area for pharmacy, medical offices, restaurants

The plan is to have "a complete community that's walkable and preserves and enhances the natural features that are there as well," Walkey said.

There was mixed reaction in the crowd.

John Holmes does not want a mega-hospital. He came to see what the information session was about and brought some pamphlets by the Citizens for an Accountable Megahospital Planning Process, a group that opposes the new facility's site.

"I'm troubled at the process," Holmes said. "I'm troubled at how it was handled when they decided where it was going to go."

Holmes said he was asked to stop handing out the pamphlets by the organizers.

Some at the event are happy to see a potential state-of-the-art facility in the area.

Karl Straky is an ambassador for the hospital campaign.

"There's a lot of questions, as far as number of operating rooms," Straky said. "Are there going to have enough? So I'm still doing my due diligence but I'm convinced that the people who have worked on it for four years have done a good job and I'm just focusing on moving it to the next step."

Straky said he still had questions about the timeline of the process and that no one there could answer them.