Residents want more information on the actual costs of funding the proposed new hospitalOakville, February 24, 2010 - For immediate release
Mayor Rob Burton has called on Minister of Health and Long-term Care Deb Matthews and Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Brad Duguid to give Council more time to consider Halton Healthcare Services' request for a contribution of $200 million dollars toward the local share costs of the proposed new Oakville hospital. The proposed new hospital would be the first to be built under the province's new guidelines, and the Mayor argues the costs are simply too high to put on local tax bills. "I want a new hospital for our community as much as anyone and I am prepared to consider a reasonable level of municipal funding," Mayor Burton said. "But I can't accept that this Council has to make a decision to commit $200 million dollars plus unknown interest charges without access to full costing information and without any certainty of terms. Local government cannot afford to conduct its business this way when we know these costs will be borne by our taxpayers." Mayor Burton noted that he had heard from hundreds of residents since the town began its public consultation process in January, and has met extensively with community and business leaders. He says the message has been: "Be careful how you spend our money because we are going to be paying for this hospital for a very long time." "I am really concerned that Council and staff can't even answer the public's questions about the costs because final costs haven't yet been determined. That is a serious flaw in the province's funding process." The Mayor also noted that this issue is resonating with mayors from across Ontario as local governments are being asked to pay a higher and higher cost for health care. "When I spoke to my colleagues in other communities they couldn't believe what we are being asked to pay," he said. The Mayor acknowledged that the provincial government is committing significant money to the proposed hospital, but said he wants to sit down with provincial officials to discuss how costs were determined. "We owe it to the residents of Oakville who would be facing annual property tax increases for the next 30 years to pay for this hospital to take a little bit more time to make sure we reach a fair solution." Town staff will report to Council on the results of the public consultation on Monday, March 1, 2010.
Join your community and others for a peaceful mass Rally at Queen’s Park on Tuesday March 2nd 2010 at 12noon. We need to keep the pressure on the McGuinty government – there are real concerns about the province’s plans for gas-fired power plants. We need our government to do its job and protect us. The process for evaluating potential sites is flawed. There are no standards or regulations on setbacks or air emissions. On a local level, the Oakville site just does not make good sense - health and safety are at risk. It is too close to homes and schools and the airshed in the area is already overtaxed.
C4CA will be providing free bus transportation to and from Queen’s Park that day. Choose your pickup location from the options below. Buses will leave at 10:30am, and will return to Oakville at about 2pm. A certain number of buses have been allocated to each location, corresponding to available parking. Please choose another location if your first choice becomes unavailable. We reserve the right to make adjustments to accommodate interest and demand.
You must register for the bus transportation by Sat Feb 27 at 5pm to be guaranteed a seat on a bus.
Bring signs. Dress for the weather. The Rally itself will run for about an hour starting at noon. Washrooms are extremely limited.
Bus Pick-Up Locations
1. Oakville Place Shopping Centre Trafalgar and the QEW *Southeast Corner of Parking Lot
2. Canlan Ice Sports 2300 Cornwall Rd (at Ford Drive)
3. Ontario Racquet Club (ORC) 884 Southdown Rd (at Royal Windsor Drive) Mississauga
4. Dorval Crossing East Shopping Centre (formerly Town Centre)
To register for a seat on a bus, please click here!
Please attend the third public Open House on February 10, 2010 between 4 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. to present information about the facility, to summarize the key points in the Draft Environment Review Report, and to answer your questions. The event will be held at the Oakville Conference and Banquet Centre located at 2515 Wyecroft Road.
TransCanada is committed to engaging with area residents, community organizations and interested parties throughout the development of this project. If you have any questions about the Oakville Generating Station, please visit the project website at www.transcanada.com/oakville, or contact:
Coco Calderhead TransCanada Oakville Generating Station 8th Floor, 55 Yonge Street Toronto, ON M5E 1J4 Telephone: 1-866-317-9887 Fax: 905-764-9386 E-mail:
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As you may have heard, the Town won the OMB (Ontario Municipal Board) hearing against TransCanada Pipeline (TCPL) upholding the Town's interim by-law banning power plant approvals. In late December, TCPL announced it was filing an appeal to have the decision overturned. C4CA.org continues to lead the fight on behalf of our community against the power plant decision. To see there latest video click here.
At the January 6th Board Meeting Superintendent Cullen presented information concerning the 2 approved capital projects in SE Oakville. These plans have not yet been approved by the Town of Oakville and may still be modified.
New Central - Capacity will be increased to 247 from the existing 161 to accommodate a JK-6 structure. The addition provides for a 2 JK/SK rooms and 2 additional classrooms and new bathroom facilities. It appears no other renovations are planned to the existing building.
Maple Grove - As a result of the PARC process Maple Grove had been approved for 550 student capacity from its current 302 places. The proposed JK-8 school will consist an addition of 2 JK/SK rooms, 6 classrooms and 2 specialty rooms and a renovated Gymnasium and several class room renovations.
EJ James - The community is still awaiting the release of the report on EJ James renovations to equip the school for a Grades 1-8 French Immersion centre in SouthEast Oakville.
The Board is anticipating to have all the work approved and completed before September 2010. In April 2010, depending on progress of the work required, including the completion of the new Clearview school, the Board will communicate any contingency plans that may be required in the event the work is not anticipated to be complete for September school opening.
The latest information and newsletters from the Board to our community can be found at the myoakville.org website.
Town Council adopted Oakville’s new Official Plan on June 22, 2009, and forwarded it to Halton Region of for approval. This approval was secured in late November, 2009, thereby bringing the new Official Plan into effect. Director of Planning, Dana Anderson has advised TCRA that the Region did not impose any significant amendments to the Plan and that the Province has given its approval to the degree of urban intensification provided therein. OTMH Lands and OTHS Land Use Designation
TCRA was actively engaged in the Official Plan’s consultation process and is pleased with the results attained and, in particular, with the land-use designation afforded to the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital lands, and the treatment of the old Oakville Trafalgar High School building.
In early drafts of the Plan, the hospital lands were designated to be redeveloped (following OTMH’s relocation ~2014/15) at low and medium residential densities, but significantly higher overall densities were to be permitted through “bonusing”. With considerable effort, TCRA was able to convince the Town that low density residential - which essentially permits detached dwellings, semi-detached dwellings and duplexes - was the most appropriate designation for the area, and to reflect same in the approved version of the Official Plan. Some stacked town-houses and small apartments could also be permitted, subject to a future Town-initiated “visioning” exercise, and Community Uses may also be permitted on the lands.
Also, in alignment with TCRA’s requests, the approved Official Plan strongly encourages the maintenance and preservation of the old OTHS building.
Visioning Exercise and Funding
The Town will be initiating a visioning exercise to solicit the public’s views on how the hospital lands should ultimately be redeveloped. It is now scheduled to be conducted in Spring, 2010, according to Town Council’s most recent iteration of its 4-year work plan. TCRA views this visioning initiative as a critical stage in the redevelopment of this potential jewel within our local community. We intend to participate actively in developing and advancing our neighbourhood’s visualization for the area, and have expressed a wish to work proactively with the Town to promote mutually advantageous and desirable uses for the OTMH/OTHS lands. As a starting point, we are reviewing earlier studies done by Parks & Recreation and Culture to identify current facility shortfalls and projected future needs. The Cultural Oakville Mayor’s Advisory Group, on which TCRA has representation, may also be a source of inspiration and imaginative potential uses. Citing appreciation for its neighbours’ historic support, Halton Healthcare Services has generously agreed to provide TCRA with one-time funding assistance to be used for consulting services for developing the local community’s vision for the use of the hospital and high school property lands. This donation represents approximately 50% of our estimated cost for such services. Consequently, developing additional funding will be a major TCRA thrust in early 2010.
Hospital Land Ownership
Provincial regulations require that local funding makes up a significantly large, pre-determined portion of the total cost of new hospitals built in Ontario. Halton Health Services has requested that the Town of Oakville donate $200MM in this regard. March 2010 is viewed as the effective “drop dead” date by which time local funding must be committed in order to preserve the project’s viability and positioning vis-à-vis the Province’s funding and pecking order. Committee of the Whole (Town Council) met to discuss this request on December 8, 2009. HHS presented their case for building a top-notch, full-service facility. A staff report was tabled, recommending the Town commit to contributing $140MM, subject, in part, to HHS transferring title of the existing hospital site to the Town of Oakville. HHS CEO John Oliver referred to the intrinsic value of the transferred land as one of the benefits the Town would receive in return for its donation; thereby inferring agreement in principle, at least, to the title transfer. It was clear that Committee of the Whole was uncomfortable with committing such large amounts without first providing adequate opportunity for public discussion and input. Consequently, they unanimously resolved to recommend the decision be deferred to the end of February, 2010, and that, in the interim, extensive public consultation be undertaken. This recommendation was adopted by Council December 14, 2009.
