Public input sought on former hospital site

What should be done with the former hospital site?

It’s a question that Niagara-onthe-Lake town council is putting to the public, asking residents to share their vision for the property at 176 Wellington St.

Council approved the $3.5million purchase of the Old Town site from Niagara Health last March, with the deal closing on Sept. 20, 2018.

At the time of purchase, Lord Mayor Pat Darte said it was important for council to be involved in the sale and help to control the destiny of the site for the residents.

“It’s right in the historic district. It’s crucial we maintain the integrity of the town’s facade,” he said at the time, adding the community will play a crucial role in determining what the future of the site will be.

More than just words, council put that plan into action this month by launching a public input process inviting the community to share its vision for the former hospital site on the town’s online portal, jointheconversationnotl.org.

The public engagement process opened March 20 and residents will have three months to submit ideas for the future use of the property.

On the website, users can share their own ideas as well as scroll through ones put forward by others.

“When we were discussing buying the hospital, we always said we were going to go to the public to get their thoughts on this space,” said Darte. “And that’s what we’re doing. We want to hear from the community.”

Once the public engagement session has closed, town CAO Holly Dowd said staff will collect all the ideas and present the information to council.

“We’re going to summarize all of the responses we receive and bring all of it back to council,” she said, adding they’ll have the opportunity to see the interaction from the community and their ideas for the future.

“We need to make sure the community is heard,” said Darte, adding both council and staff are focused on seeing a high level of engagement from residents.

The public engagement process closes on June 20, 2018 and request for expressions of interest are tentatively planned for the summer and winter of 2018. Dowd said they’re allowing for a longer REOI period because of the municipal election on the horizon this October.

“This could end up being the next council that makes this decision,” she said.

A staff report to council is projected to come forward in early 2019.

The town takes occupancy of the site Sept. 20, 2018.

Located at the northeast corner of Wellington Street and Picton Street, the site housed the hospital, as well as NOTL Community Palliative Care, physicians’ offices, lab services and an ambulance station. Niagara Health closed beds at the site in April 2015.

In August, Royal Oak Community School signed a one-year lease to operate out of the former hospital site for the 2017-2018 school year. Through the lease, the not-for-profit independent school has more than 5,500 square feet of space in the building.

Darte said the town is in talks with the school now to see what the options are, going forward, for future use.

Last week, council directed town staff to work with all current tenants on potential lease extensions through 2019.

Gianna Dritsacos, academic director of Royal Oak, said discussions are ongoing between the school and town staff.

Those wishing to share their vision for the site can do so online at jointheconversationnotl.org/ oldhospitalsite.