GORE BAY—Gore Bay council will consider passing zoning amendments to allow for the creation of a new nursing home off Armstrong Road once a public meeting has been held to allow members of the public the opportunity to voice their concerns or support for the project.
At a meeting last week with Theresa Carlisle of the Manitoulin Planning Board, council considered the proposed Official Plan and zoning amendments to permit the development of a 64-bed nursing home with a potential phase-two part of the project for a potential 28 more beds in the future. A tentative date of February 15 has been set for the public meeting.
“Under the Planning Act the public meeting is required,” Gore Bay Mayor Ron Lane told The Expositor after the meeting. The public meeting “is a chance for members of the public to voice their opposition or support of the project. If the zoning is going to be changed and a property owner is located beside the property location for the proposed development and they have concerns with the changes, this public meeting provides them the opportunity to voice their concerns. This all must take place before the town considers approving the proposed zoning amendments. All property owners within 120 metres of the proposed development along with First Nations will also have the opportunity to comment.”
The MPB is working with the town and the proponent, Tulloch Engineering (on behalf of the owners of the property, Manitoulin Transport).
The property does not currently have services such as water and drainage.
No action on the zoning amendments can be taken by the town until after the public meeting.
Ms. Carlisle explained with proposed large development projects like this one a municipality will usually put an advertisement in the local newspaper. “I would need this by the end of January.”
“That is a good idea—this is a major development,” said Mayor Ron Lane.
As was previously published, proposed plans have now been presented that would see a new 64-bed long-term care nursing home in Gore Bay tentatively open in the new location in 2026. The operator of the new nursing home would be St. Joseph’s Health Care.
With access off Armstrong Street, the new building would include two wings with 32 beds in each wing. It will adopt a small house design by dividing the 32 beds into 12 and eight-bed neighbourhoods.
Visitors to the nursing home will come to a main entrance with a big lobby that can accommodate about 80 people, and a chapel off it, then the administration and support services area, dining room and nursing station. Each wing has a lounge area at each end. Each 32-bed wing has its own dining room that can be made bigger with a retractable wall in the middle.
There will be a large deck on the outside of the building, and there will be a series of fully accessible walking trails around the building. Each of the two wings will have its own activity and therapy room and nurses’ station.
Once the new nursing home is open, the town would own the current Manitoulin Lodge building and would decide at that time what the building would be used for in the future.
