Stratford council has approved a lengthy list of official plan and zoning bylaw amendments sought by a long-term care home corporation for a planned development in the city’s northeast.
![Donna Sobura](https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/nexus/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PXL_20240910_001336450-e1725997660659.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288&h=216&sig=v3pKKwJV9b3bIVqnUr1idQ)
Stratford council has approved a lengthy list of official plan and zoning bylaw amendments sought by a long-term care home corporation for a planned development in the city’s northeast.
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In Monday evening’s 7-2 vote, councilors supported the 25 amendments requested by peopleCare communities for its proposed care home at 3188 Vivian Line 37. Chief among these amendments is a height increase that will bump the building from four to five stores on its north side , where a nursing home is planned, and to seven stores for a proposed retirement home on its south portion.
The current site plan includes 288 beds for the care home, 164 beds in 150 units in the retirement building and a two-storey 42-unit apartment complex. The project as planned will be completed in two phases, with the first including the nursing home.
Speaking to council, Rachel Bossie, a planner with the GSP Group, said there are currently 4,000 people on a waitlist for long-term care beds in Huron and Perth counties while only about 2,000 licensed beds are available.
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Prior to the council discussion and vote, four Stratford residents did raise their concerns with the project. Donna Sobura shared worries that residents in the proposed care home would not have access to many “elements which would be comforting and familiar to them.”
“I cannot think of anything more detrimental to their physical and mental health than your creation, lacking in greenery, escape to privacy, space or intimate family time. Why would anyone think this is an acceptable way of life?” Sobura said.
She also noted how many bylaws would have to be tweaked to allow for completion of the project.
“What is the point of having bylaws if they are not being followed? Council is setting a dangerous precedent,” Sobura said.
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Another change requested in the application would reduce the amount of required landscaped open space from 35 per cent to 28 per cent. Coun. Jo-Dee Burbach did propose an amendment that would not have allowed this change, but that was defeated.
Coun. Cody Sebben, who, along with Coun. Geza Wordofa voted against the application, spoke in opposition to the staff recommendation to approve the requests, saying it was “very heavily weighted” in peopleCare’s favor. This was the last chance, he noted, for council to exercise authority over the application.
“I think this needs to go back to the applicant and to staff, and we need to come to a little more compromised because I don’t see any compromise from the applicant. I see this being they’re getting every single thing that they want to put in there, and I don’t think that is the way to do this,” he said.
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Coun. Taylor Briscoe said she supported the long-term vision of the project and stressed the city had demonstrated it will be an ongoing collaborative process.
“I would just really ask for, whether it’s through town hall or further public consultations. . . (that) we can have these concerns addressed and continue to work forward. This is going to be a long-term project, and it’s a partnership for quite a long time,” she added.
An update provided by peopleCare indicated the company hopes for approval from the Ministry of Long-Term Care by the end of November.
The proposed care home would be peopleCare’s second in the city. The company previously operated a long-term care home on Mornington Street before a 2015 flood led to its closure.
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