Tag: Willow Square

Categories
Ft Mac Health Politics

Long Term Care Facility Will be Relocated From Parsons Creek to Willow Square

Parsons Creek, Willow Square, long term care facility

The long term care facility that Fort McMurray residents have been looking forward to will be relocated from Parsons Creek to Willow Square according to the latest announcement on this facility. This facility has been in the planning stage for years as squabbles and negotiations were drawn out and protracted. A Coming Soon sign about the facility has been standing all alone for the last 3 years, and many have begun to suspect that the facility will never materialize. An announcement by the provincial government about the site relocation could mean even further delays. According to Sarah Hoffman, the Minister of Health, the relocation was necessary. Hoffman stated “You have to make decisions taking community perspective into consideration. And the community definitely spoke loud and clear on this one.”

The long term care facility move from Parsons Creek to Willow Square is just one more step in a process that seems to have gone on far too long for many local residents and members of the Fort McMurray and Wood Buffalo communities. The press attache for Hoffman sent an email which explained that “The government intends to recoup as much of the investment as possible and is considering future development opportunities. The design may also be used for other developments as well as the prefabricated wall panels, which could be used on a similar project at another location.” Hoffman also said “It was clear that the desire to have it in the right location — especially after waiting so long — was the driving factor. They said ‘you know, we want it tomorrow, but we want it in the right place forever’.” Where do you think the new facility should be located? Why?

Categories
Economic Ft Mac Health Politics

Land Transfer for Willow Square Waiting on Approved Plan

Willow Square, land transfer

The land transfer for Willow Square is still on hold from the province, waiting for an approved plan to be submitted. The RMWB council voted last week to have the Wood Buffalo Housing and Development Corporation prepare a report covering the time and cost considerations on 5 different possible options for the location. Alberta seniors ministry communications director Jessica Lucenko said “It’s really a matter of the municipality and the community taking a look at what they need, being in the best position to determine and respect those needs. We’re going to wait to transfer the land until we have an approved plan submitted.” This could delay the time required to make the development a reality, and in the meantime seniors are still facing housing shortages.

The land transfer delay for the Willow Square development is seen as another opportunity to get things right the first time. WBHD proposes a community campus setting, which offers senior and affordable housing, retail and office space, and market housing. Advocates say that this type of development makes the most sense economically. Others including Mayor Melissa Blake were hoping for an Aging in Place facility instead of the broader spectrum development. Mayor Blake commented “I knew that it wasn’t going to be economic enough to do it all on its own, independently, but the devastation is that I thought that we’d have capacity for two facilities and a range of services that would be different on the downtown site than the one on the hill.”

Categories
Alberta Economic Ft Mac Health

Accusations Made by Brian Jean Against PC Opponents About Willow Square

Brian Jean, Willow Square

Brian Jean is making accusations against his PC opponents over Willow Square. Jean is accusing is opponents of hypocrisy over the project and they are pointing the finger right back at him. Two emails from 2012 show that both Don Scott and Mike Allen were against moving a long term care facility to Parson’s Creek when they were municipal councilors. On January 10, 2012 a statement from Mike Allen read “I am very disappointed to learn that the LTCC site was changed without consulting the seniors of this community or incorporating their views. I’ve heard that whether or not the facility is built at Willow Square, seniors believe it MUST (sic) be built in the lower townsite.” The same day Don Scott sent an email saying “I believe that the government of Alberta should suspend the decision to relocate the LTCC, which would permit a re-evaluation of the benefits associated with both sites through engagement with Fort McMurray’s seniors.”

Brian Jean is critical of his opponents when it comes to Willow Square, and one of the first policy announcements that Jean made during his campaign was to place a priority on senior care. Jean said “They knew the Parson’s Creek deal made no sense for Fort McMurray. They openly said so, before they became MLAs. Parson’s Creek is a classic case of these PC MLAs turning their backs on our community and not listening to constituents.” Mike Allen fought back, saying “We’ve learned a lot throughout the last three years. Long-term care should have started construction a year ago, but political reasons has led to a delay of that project. This is an important project for the delivery of health care to our seniors.” Mike Scott also countered the criticism and stated “When Brian Jean talks about Willow Square, he never mentions that he quit on this region and we spent $16 million buying the land. Premier Prentice made that purchase not even 100 days into his term.”

Categories
Economic Ft Mac Health

Willow Square Topic of Political Debate and Disagreement Among Candidates

Willow Square, political debate

Willow Square is still the topic of political debate and disagreement, with candidates continuing to spar over this project. According to Wildrose Leader Brian Jean he made efforts to transfer Willow Square to the local municipality but these efforts were hampered by both the province and by fellow federal MPs in the government. Jean stated “During meetings, their answer was that this is too expensive for seniors. How ridiculous. I could not believe it when it came out of the mouths of those politicians and bureaucrats. There is nothing too expensive for our seniors.” Jean would not discuss the names of cabinet ministers and MPs who made the referenced comments, or even say if they were still active in the federal government.

According to MLA Don Scott the political debate over Willow Square include the fact that the pledge by Brian Jean to approve the Willow Square long term care centre on his very first day as premier is not realistic or financially responsible. According to Scott “On the extreme right, we have somebody … who had 10 years in Ottawa and couldn’t get the land at Willow Square transferred. Jim Prentice was in office less than 100 days and that land was transferred. That’s leadership.” MLA Mike Allen responded by stating “The truth is that the actual announcement for a long-term care centre didn’t happen until January 2008 and it was up in Abrams Land. Willow Square was never going to be a continuing care centre until sometime after it was deferred.”

Categories
Economic Ft Mac

Council Meeting Over Willow Square Shows Debate Heating Up

Willow Square, council meeting

The debate over the Willow Square housing development project has been heating up, and things reached a high point at a recent council meeting. City owned Wood Buffalo Housing and Development Corporation has presented the community with plans that include a community village which will be located at Hospital Street and Franklin Avenue and will have senior housing, retail spaces, residential towers, and commercial properties. Some critics are upset that the village will not be exclusively reserved for seniors, but the Wood Buffalo Housing and Development Corporation does not believe that a seniors only village would be sustainable. According to WBHDC President Bryan Lutes “We really want and need to create development that is sustainable. We did not think that we were going to be able to please 100% of people in this project. We were not delusional in that.”

The Willow Square council meeting had supporters and critics of the project both. “According to resident Myrtle Dussault “The wording creates confusion to the respondents. We do not want something to be built that will be a detriment to seniors under the name of seniors.” Fort MacMurray Mayor Melissa Blake said “I was pretty interested in hearing the citizen delegates in terms of what their interests are. I think Myrtle did a very good job, and we’ve got so many issues we want to be aware of. What people need to know is that seniors are the dominant proposal, except that they need to be funded somehow and part of that is a part of the alternative development.”

Categories
Economic Ft Mac

Wood Buffalo Housing and Development Corporation Holds Willow Square Engagement Session

Wood Buffalo Housing and Development Corporation, Willow Square
Wood Buffalo Housing and Development Corporation, Willow Square

The Wood Buffalo Housing and Development Corporation recently held a Willow Square engagement session in order to allow the public to get information and ask questions, and the crowd was emotional during the meeting held at the Sawridge Inn on Monday. The former Willow Square lands are still vacant, and the municipally owned developer who is in charge of the project shared the plan’s early concepts at the event. The proposal that was unveiled will include a senior facility, residential space, and retail space so that social housing, affordable housing, opportunities for seniors, and marketing can all occur in the same space.

Mike Evans, the presenter at the Willow Square engagement session scheduled by the Wood Buffalo Housing and Development Corporation , said “Wood Buffalo (Housing) accepted the stewardship of this parcel of land to facilitate the construction in this community of an Aging in Place facility for seniors. It’s not financially viable as a project that’s exclusive for seniors on this site. There’s an opportunity to meet the needs of seniors as they’ve been expressed in this community for a number of years, but also to provide some complementary development that would provide benefits to seniors, but also the community at large.” According to Bryan Lutes, the president of WBHDC, “At this point we’re still looking at what the whole site will look at. The purpose of the needs assessment are to say, what the gaps are in the community and what of those gaps we can accommodate on the site. Once we have that we’ll be able to determine what the site’s going to look like.”