GORE BAY—Another important milestone has been taken toward the development of a new 64-bed nursing home in Gore Bay with town council (at a meeting last week) authorizing the mayor and town manager/clerk to sign the site plan agreement with St. Joseph’s Health Care Centre of Sudbury and to remove the holding symbol for the development of the nursing home. A bylaw to this effect will be presented at a February 10 council meeting for approval.
Council had previously approved by-law 2024-08 to rezone the subject lands from a future development area to a residential area to permit the development of a 64-bed nursing home with a potential future phase for an additional 28-beds.
Over the last several months, the Town of Gore Bay and St. Joseph’s Health Care Centre of Sudbury (the owner) have reached an agreement on the site plan agreement.
“This is a key moment in making all of this project/development happen,” stated Harry Schlange, town manager/clerk at a council meeting last week. “Council approving this plan is a key milestone.”
Mr. Schlange explained that last February a public meeting was held to outline the plans for the new nursing home with members of the public having raised several concerns. At the public meeting and follow-up correspondence from residents and the neighbouring municipality there were several queries that the town has now addressed through the site plan. He told council that Fraser Street will not be accessed for ingress/egress, nor emergency access to the proposed new nursing home. Armstrong Road will be used for both. The owner of the building, St. Joseph’s Health Care Centre will ensure that the rate of discharge of stormwater after the development is completed, does not exceed the discharge rate prior to any development on the subject lands. There is also the addition of a comprehensive stormwater management plan incorporated into the agreement.
St. Joseph’s has agreed under the agreement, after completion of construction, at its own cost to bring all roads used for the development of construction to a ‘prior to construction’ condition.
Under the site plan agreement Mr. Schlange outlined that the town has secured with the owner in the site plan agreement to include that the owner agrees to pay for, at its sole liability and expense, the servicing and utility requirements to the subject lands (supply of water, sanitary, sewer, propane, and electricity). The owner has agreed to provide a letter of credit in a certified cheque of $100,000 to the town upon the application of the building permit to ensure compliance and completion of all of the service. The town of Gore Bay can retain all, or a portion of, the letter of credit for a one-year period after a certificate of occupancy is issued by the chief building official. Under the agreement St. Joseph’s agrees to pay all legal fees incurred by the Town of Gore Bay.
Mr. Schlange noted that as stated in previous council reports, as of July 1, 2025, the town will not be receiving any property tax revenue associated to the long-term care home. St. Joseph’s Health Care Centre of Sudbury is exempt from taxes; this will be in effect for the new long term care home once it is constructed as well. This is a loss of revenue perpetually of $40,000 annually.
The Town of Gore Bay will also be making a formal request to the other Western Manitoulin municipalities that this project be exempt from any calculations to determine its shared service contributions to the Chief Building Official, as this project alone is estimated to have a construction value of over $40 million.
“As soon as know the project is definitely a go, we will be sending out that letter to everyone,” said Mr. Schlange.
“The completion of the site plan agreement and removal of the holding provision has been an extraordinary achievement for the town and its partners to ensure that this very important service remains close to home, for our residents and those across Manitoulin Island,” continued Mr. Schlange. “This is a benefit for all residents of Manitoulin Island, since 90 percent of the residents in the long-term care home are from Manitoulin Island, and it ensures that important jobs are maintained.”
Mr. Schlange said that the Manitoulin Planning Board (MPB) has issued a notice to neighbouring residents to advertise the proposed removal of the holding symbol. A bylaw will be brought forward to the February 10, 2025 council meeting in support of this.
“Town staff and members of council, including Mayor Ron Lane, Councillor Terry Olmstead and Councillor Dan Osborne have spent several hundred hours on this important project for the benefit of all of Western Manitoulin and they need to be thanked for this. We are almost at the finish line,” said Mr. Schlange.
“This is all very good news,” said Mayor Lane. “We are almost at the final hurdle, on our side of things. This is a very important project and there has been a lot of hard work on it by Harry and town staff and council.”