Here are the basics; we need the Civic Hospital to stay (near) downtown. Why is the proposed site the best site? Because it is near the Heart Institute and the old hospital which will likely be converted to a Bruyère type facility or medical clinics.
Yes, Dow's Lake or Lebreton could work, but those areas should be reserved for mixed used development.
Yes, the proposed location, just like the current location, is not near rapid transit, but the fact is you don't have a clear am/pm rush hour, nor do you ever have a few thousand people going at the same time (as we would see with a sports facility). Traffic flow to and from is pretty consistent throughout the day so rapid transit is not necessary. Place bus lanes on Carling, and we're fine. The City might even build classic LRT along Carling.
Why 60 acres when the current site is only 25 acres? Expansion. Just look at the current campus. We started with that small "H" shaped building in the 20s and expanded until we ended with this sprawling campus with no room to grow. That's why we need 60 acres. To avoid the current issues, I would recommend planning all the expansions now (at least general massing of future buildings) instead of taking on mismatched buildings over the years.
And the farm? How about we create a new satellite site in the greenbelt to replace the 60 acres? Simple solution. Much easier to re-locate a freakin' farm then a cities premiere health care facility. Ya sure, soil, current studies, so on and so forth. They had 10 years warning that the site was considered for a new hospital and now have 20 years to finish up and pack up before shovels are in the ground.
Last edited by J.OT13; Sep 25, 2015 at 2:50 AM.
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