Citizen group opposes hospital rezoning
Windsor Regional Hospital has submitted an application to the city, requesting an amendment to Windsor’s Official Plan and Zoning for the new mega-hospital site.
Hospital president and CEO, David Musyj, called the application the “natural next step” in the process that will bring a new stateof-the-art, acute care hospital at County Rd. 42 and the 9th Concession.
“The hospital site has been selected, Windsor City Council and Essex County Council have committed to cover the local share of the project, and this is the next step required before we can start designing the new hospital,” he said in a media release.
The application requests that the land, which was transferred to the City of Windsor in 2002, be rezoned as “major institutional” to allow for the new hospital.
Musyj said the change is routine and would have been required for both shortlisted sites for the area’s newest health care facility.
Philippa Von Ziegenweidt, one of the leaders of Citizens for an Accountable Megahospital Planning Process — a group which opposes the proposed building site — said members knew the request was coming and are ready to fight it.
“We’re absolutely planning to oppose this,” she said.
According to Von Ziegenweidt, the proposed rural site goes against the city policy of strengthening it’s core.
“We think developing in that area is not in the city’s best interest,” she said. “This is just going to make the hole in Windsor’s doughnut even bigger.”
The media release from the hospital also describes a secondary plan that is being undertaken to make sure the new hospital site is “considered holistically within a broader land use planning context for the area.”
The plan applies to about 221 hectares of land surrounded by County Rd. 42 to the North, Country Rd. 17 to the east, Baseline Road to the South and the Eight Concession Road to the West.
“The goal of this plan is to guide the future development of a ‘campus of care’ community within the Sandwich South Planning District,” said Krista Walkey, a senior planner at Stantec Consulting Ltd. which prepared the plan.
“The community will be anchored by a new regional hospital and supported by a mix of complementary commercial, mixed-use, employment, and residential uses, while protecting and preserving natural features,” she added.
Information sessions about the secondary plan will be held on Sept. 7, from 3-5 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. at College Boreal, 7515 Forest Glade Dr. in Windsor.