More land needed for Falls hospital

Council told additional 20 acres is for not-yet-built facility’s future expansion

The city has to purchase 20 acres of land — in addition to the 30 acres it was given — for the south Niagara hospital project to proceed, the Niagara Falls Review has learned.

Last month, city council agreed to a memorandum of understanding regarding the transfer of 30 acres of land a business family agreed to donate to the community in 2013 for a new hospital at Montrose Road and Biggar Road.

But the Review has learned councillors were told during a closeddoor meeting in September the city is being asked to acquire an additional 20 acres so the hospital could expand in the future.

At this point, it’s unclear who made the request.

On Monday, David Jensen, a spokesman for the provincial Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, said the ministry did not advise the Niagara Health System it needs an additional 20 acres of land for the proposed south Niagara hospital.

Laura Botelho, a spokeswoman with the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network, said the LHIN did not request the NHS to come up with another 20 acres.

The NHS did not respond to an interview request.

City council is scheduled to meet privately Tuesday prior to the open portion of the meeting, to discuss “a proposed disposition or acquisition of land” related to vacant property on Montrose Road, and lands at Montrose Road and Biggar Road.

It was announced in March 2013 the Grassl family, who are businesspeople from Toronto but own land in Niagara Falls, had offered to donate 30 acres of serviced land at the northwest corner of Montrose Road and Biggar Road for a new hospital to serve the region’s southern communities.

The family used to own the old Daytimers building on Montrose Road, near the proposed future hospital site.

The Review has learned the city is getting an appraisal to see what it would cost to purchase 20 more acres from the Grassl family.

The new St. Catharines hospital, which opened in 2013, is approximately 970,000 square feet and was built on a 32-acre portion of a 40-acre site on Fourth Avenue.

The new proposed Niagara Falls hospital is projected to be about 300,000 square feet larger than the hospital in St. Catharines. Construction is to start in 2021 and be completed by 2023, although it’s still making its way through the planning process.

Mayor Jim Diodati said he wasn’t at last month’s in-camera meeting, as he was away on city business, so he doesn’t feel comfortable addressing the matter at this stage.

All Diodati would say is the city is “just ensuring that we’re fulfilling all of the requirements for the new site to move forward.

“I understand our phase one approval should be forthcoming, and we’re anxious to get to the next step of the planning phase with the Ministry of Health,” he said.

“We don’t want there to be any roadblocks or speed bumps to delay, in any way, the construction of the new Niagara south hospital.”

Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gates could not be reached for comment.

We don’t want there to be any roadblocks or speed bumps to delay, in any way, the construction of the new Niagara south hospital.” Jim Diodati