Hospitals in KW

[ijmorlan]

To me, this doesn't sound like corruption...just typical North American sprawl insanity.

You’re probably right. I’m just saying that it’s sufficiently absurd that it’s not ridiculous to talk about corruption.

“any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice”

[tomh009]

To me, this doesn't sound like corruption...just typical North American sprawl insanity.

You’re probably right. I’m just saying that it’s sufficiently absurd that it’s not ridiculous to talk about corruption.

“any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice”

I'll counter with Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

[nms]

We're assuming that the 50 acres must be either greenfield or brownfield. There is nothing that says that the new hospital site can't be in an already developed area. For instance, earlier in this thread someone mapped out 50 acres around the existing KW campus. If the new hospital site is intended to be a perpetual plan, there is nothing that would prevent a 50 acre site from being so designated and each property within that site would then be expropriated over time. Perhaps it's not the best example, but the (former) landowners in the site of the propose Pickering airport have been still on their land through a long-term tenancy agreement with the federal government. Similarly, there didn't seem to be anything that said that the 50 acres would be completely built out immediately.

As a random example, and with no knowledge of actual sites being considered, 50 acres is roughly the size of the David Johnson R+T Park land east of Hagey Boulevard and north of Frank Tompa Dr. If that site were used, the existing evolv1, Toby Jenkins building, and the Stantec building would fit in that parcel. The would presumably not be the first spot that a hospital building would be built, but they could be repurposed or torn down for future use. It's close to the RT Ion stop, and relatively close to Westmount Road and Columbia St for arterial connections.

[ac3r]

R+T is actually another candidate, but not one high up on the list.

[Chris]

Have they discussed using Rockway golf course? I like having the golf course and play there once in while so I'd hate to lose it but a hospital is the one thing I could accept losing it for.

[KevinL]

A lot of the course is on floodplain, I doubt there's enough developable land otherwise.

[tomh009]

A lot of the course is on floodplain, I doubt there's enough developable land otherwise.

The golf course property is 103 acres, and the floodplain is mostly on the smaller part, SW of Courtland Ave. My rough guess is that there should be at least 60 acres of non-floodplain land available.

   

[ac3r]

I am fairly confident they aren't going to consider the golf course. There would be a lot of work involved transfering the lamd from CoK to RoW, not to mention an inevitable debate with the public about losing valuable inner city park and recreation space. Not only is there golf, but there's trails, cross country skiing in the winter and a lot of nature used by wildlife. Figuring out the environmental impact would take even more work and money.

For a forum that is often talking about a lack of green and recreation space, most of you seem hell bent on getting rid of over 100 acres of it.

[tomh009]

For a forum that is often talking about a lack of green and recreation space, most of you seem hell bent on getting rid of over 100 acres of it.

The hospital only needs 50 acres (if even that). That would leave about 53 acres for public green space, a large park, which might see rather more use than a golf course.

[ac3r]

R+T is actually another candidate, but not one high up on the list.

Oops, I meant the RIM Park area is another candidate according to my super top secret sources at GRH. R+T is one as well, though, as we know.

Rockway is most certainly not being considered because that would be hard to achieve for a number of reasons.

As good as The Aud location is, it would be very costly to build here because it would involve demolishing the current property, finding a site for a new sports centre (and a heck of a lot of money to build it) and then the construction of a new hospital. It would cost a fortune to achieve all of this simultaneously. I don't see them choosing this, but maybe we'll get surprised and they will because it is quite ideal.

I suspect the location with the most potential would be near R+T as this would allow them to partner with the University of Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier University. The whole plan for a big tech park flopped, so there is an abundance of land over there to use. The Boardwalk is a potential as well but that's probably the worst location out of all of them. It is so far away from the core that they might as well choose the most eastern point in the suburb of Wellesley or something.

[danbrotherston]

For a forum that is often talking about a lack of green and recreation space, most of you seem hell bent on getting rid of over 100 acres of it.

The hospital only needs 50 acres (if even that). That would leave about 53 acres for public green space, a large park, which might see rather more use than a golf course.

Also, none of the sites we are talking about are "Green space". None of them are open to the public at large. The closest is the golf course, but it's only open to golfers. This is the old "the suburbs are green" misconception. Green space and environmentally green do not just mean literally the colour green on a satellite image.

[panamaniac]

For a forum that is often talking about a lack of green and recreation space, most of you seem hell bent on getting rid of over 100 acres of it.

The hospital only needs 50 acres (if even that). That would leave about 53 acres for public green space, a large park, which might see rather more use than a golf course.

I'm holding out for its eventual conversion to an arboretum.

[panamaniac]

R+T is actually another candidate, but not one high up on the list.

Oops, I meant the RIM Park area is another candidate according to my super top secret sources at GRH. R+T is one as well, though, as we know.

Rockway is most certainly not being considered because that would be hard to achieve for a number of reasons.

As good as The Aud location is, it would be very costly to build here because it would involve demolishing the current property, finding a site for a new sports centre (and a heck of a lot of money to build it) and then the construction of a new hospital. It would cost a fortune to achieve all of this simultaneously. I don't see them choosing this, but maybe we'll get surprised and they will because it is quite ideal.

I suspect the location with the most potential would be near R+T as this would allow them to partner with the University of Waterloo and Wilfred Laurier University. The whole plan for a big tech park flopped, so there is an abundance of land over there to use. The Boardwalk is a potential as well but that's probably the worst location out of all of them. It is so far away from the core that they might as well choose the most eastern point in the suburb of Wellesley or something.

Compared to the cost of a new hospital, demolitions costs seem pretty small potatoes.

[kps]

Oops, I meant the RIM Park area is another candidate according to my super top secret sources at GRH. R+T is one as well, though, as we know.

Along Country Squire? South of RIM Park only seems to have around 30 acres.

That location shares the problem of the Boardwalk of being slow to access for much of the city. That could be mitigated with a ‘hospital express’ rebuild of Bridge/University/CountrySquire (but probably wouldn't be).

If the Aud can't be used, I'd put it north of the St Jacobs Market (or maybe beside the gravel pit): there's plenty of space, a highway exit for ambulances, and the LRT could terminate there instead of at the stupid shopping mall.

[Bytor]

Who decided that the new hospital needed 50 acres of space?

What was the rationale given?