Site plan for new Queens Long Term Care Home. Photo Region of Queens Council Agenda

The Queens Home for Special Care Society is asking the municipality to sell them more land and help cover the costs of building a road to the new care home being built near Queens Place.

At the recent Region of Queens Council meeting society chair Christopher Clarke and Executive Director of Queens Manor Andrew MacVicar appealed to council to cover part of the $400,000 they estimate it will cost to build a road and underground infrastructure to the new facility.

The society is paying close to a million dollars to buy the land at Queens Crossing from the municipality.

In the past, regional council has reinvested proceeds of land sales at that location back into the site.

The current council decided last month to not extend the Queens Place Road when they voted against building the new library on the site.

That left responsibility for building a road to the new care facility with the Queens Home for Special Care Society.

When addressing council, Clarke said their construction timelines are extremely tight and road construction to the new home site must begin this summer.

“Deputy Mayor, it has to be this year for us. Obviously the first thing that we do is to start pushing dirt to start construction,” said Clarke. “We hope to be doing that in July, August, kind of thing, so yes, we’ve got to do it tout de suite.”

Including the road construction in their plans may mean the society will have to move the entire build closer to the road by almost 70 metres.

Clarke explains the design is planned with residents and staff in mind to enjoy a southwest view that will maximize the light.

Moving the build will allow the construction to proceed without reorienting the building.

“When you’re dealing with seniors in homes is that it will also be facing activity at Queens Place,” said Clarke. “The coming and going, the people going to the skateboard park, even people in the parking lot we know from the Manor that anything happening outside the Manor is a is a key interest to the residents there and so the orientation of that building which had been carefully planned, is important.”

Mayor Darlene Norman says she has heard from the Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing expressing their concern that the province is providing a million dollars to pay for the land and the municipality is unwilling to build a road to the new care home.

Norman would like the municipality to be a good partner in this important project.

“In my opinion, we need to do what I believe our area residents feel is right. And I suspect the majority of people in Queens County would expect us, if we’re getting $1,000,000 so the province can build, along with the Queens Care Society, can build this exceptional replacement facility for Hillsview and Queens Manor, that we build them a road to the driveway,”said Norman.

Council will consider the request and make a decision on funding at a future council meeting.

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A lighter than usual agenda was dominated by the proposed new library during the Region of Queens last council meeting.

As previously reported here, council voted to rescind their approval to build a new library at a site in Queens Crossing.

They’ve asked for studies to determine the cost to instead build either directly beside or attached to Queens Place Emera Centre.

The March 14 meeting began with a presentation from Queens Care Building Society updating their progress on the new long-term care home to be built at Queens Crossing.

The group is currently awaiting design approval before they can formally buy the land from Region of Queens.

Next council gave second reading to a Tax Exemption bylaw to support some non-profit organizations by allowing them to forgo paying their municipal property taxes.

Council passed the motion to give up $241,000 in revenue for the Region of Queens.

They also approved the naming of a new road off Shore Road in Western Head as Serenity Now Lane.

Council then rescinded library approval before awarding a community grant of $2,800 to this station, QCCR to update some broadcasting equipment.

Approval was granted to conduct an HVAC investigation at the Town Hall Arts and Cultural Centre.

Council agreed to provide $10,975 to DUMAC Energy to complete a comprehensive heating, ventilation, and air conditioning assessment to determine the needs and find solutions to the heating and cooling systems in the building which houses the Astor Theatre.

During the discussion portion of the meeting council talked about creating a tiered support system for low-income property tax relief.

Anyone with an annual household income up to $20,000 will receive $400 in relief, from there up to $25,000 will get $350 and between $25,000 and $30,000 will enjoy $300 in property tax relief.

Council will vote on that proposal in an upcoming meeting.

Added discussion items included how to reduce the amount the Region’s fire services are paying for insurance.

Council decided they will go with a lower cost insurance provider and pay the higher deductible for any of the five departments as there have been very few claims.

The next council meeting will be held Tuesday March 28 in council chambers beginning at 6:00pm.

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The proposed site for the new library at Queens Place lies at the end of the driveway beside the sledding hill. Photo Ed Halverson

Region of Queens Council has cancelled the construction of a new library near Queens Place.

In a recorded 5-3 vote, Councillors Amirault, Charlton, Fancy, Gidney and Muise voted not to build the library at that location, while Mayor Norman and Councillors Brown and Hawkes voted to go ahead.

The motion was put forward by Councillor Charlton who expressed concerns Council wasn’t consulted about building a new road on the site which would extend the existing driveway to accommodate both the planned long-term care home and the proposed library.

In August 2022 council agreed to sell the land at Queens Crossing (the name of the site containing Queens Place, the Best Western Hotel, the skatepark, the planned long-term care home and the proposed library site) to the Queens Care Society for $2 per square foot.

The 479,000 square feet of land would bring in roughly $960,000, which is about what public works staff estimate it would cost to build a road, sidewalks and water infrastructure out to the end of the cul-de-sac to accommodate the library and long-term care home.

Historically, council has reinvested any proceeds from the sale of land on that site back into infrastructure at Queens Crossing.

Charlton says she supports the construction of a new long-term care home, but council was never asked if they wanted to spend that money and since it isn’t a policy, this council is not bound by the decisions of previous councils.

“We did not discuss a road extension when we agreed to sell the land,” said Charlton. “We were selling the land because it was already serviced for water and sewer to the point where it was required.”

Mayor Darlene Norman says if the municipality doesn’t cover the cost of extending these services it will need to come from the Queens Care Society’s construction budget.

“The whole idea that we would not show our support for this amazing facility is beyond comprehensible to me,” said Norman.

Councillor Vicki Amirault chairs the library site selection committee and voted against the committee’s recommendation.

The committee was tasked by council with finding the best location to build a new library.

The Queens Crossing site was put forth as the committee’s unanimous choice for the new build in June of 2022 but was rejected by council in a 5-3 vote.

In January of this year the committee made the same recommendation which council accepted at that time.

Councillor Amirault was contacted to provide a comment for this story but did not reply before publication.

Council is now looking at options to move the library closer to the Queens Place Emera Centre.

They have requested costed studies for two different library concepts.

One will determine the price of a stand-alone library beside Queens Place; the other would examine building an extension on the Centre.

CAO Chris McNeill told council he was warned by the project manager an extension would be more costly.

McNeill says any extension on Queens Place would have to look at the existing capacity of the building to handle additional demands on electricity, heating and water supply among other issues.

McNeill also informed council the two studies could cost in the range of $200,000.

In the meantime, council is aware of the precarious situation the Thomas H Raddall Library finds itself.

In addition to infrastructure issues the building is currently up for sale.

Council is suggesting the library find alternative locations where they could relocate temporarily until a new permanent location can be built.

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