West Park Healthcare Centre got the green light from councillors Tuesday, Aug. 17 to expand its hospital and add mixed-use seniors-focused residential development.
"The rezoning will pave the way for the transformation of West Park and the integration of a healthcare model that is the way of the future that mirrors the vision of the Ministry of Health and the Local Area Health Integration Network," West Park president and CEO Anne-Marie Malek told Etobicoke York Community Council at its Aug. 17 meeting. West Park provides specialized rehabilitation, complex continuing and long-term care services to help people manage difficult health challenges like lung disease, diabetes, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gherig's disease and amputation.Between 2005 and 2009, hospital officials developed a master plan to identify existing space challenges and future needs. The vision will allow the Weston Road-Jane Street area hospital to grow.Full development build-out will occur in three phases over 20 years.Phases one and two are proposed to be completed by 2018.Phase One development will transform a two-hectare surface parking lot on the easterly portion of the lands into a residential seniors' village, to potentially include long-term care facilities, assisted living units, as well as offices and retail space.Buildings on the site's north end would grow from four to six storeys. Two taller buildings of 13 and 18 storeys will be built. The seven-hectare Phase Two lands include hospital buildings, which will be retained and redeveloped. A six-storey addition is proposed for the main building. The existing Ruddy, Gage and maintenance buildings would be demolished.Existing long-term care buildings will be retained. On-site beds will increase by nearly 30 per cent to 605 beds.Located on the central area of West Park's site, one-hectare Phase Three lands are proposed for either expanded healthcare facilities or compatible uses. Until then, the lands will be used as surface parking lots.Two community consultation meetings held on West Park's proposed redevelopment yielded no opposition, area York South-Weston Councillor Frances Nunziata reported. "We had a couple meetings with the community. It was very positive. I haven't heard any negative comments," Nunziata said.Residents routinely roam West Park's picturesque, roaming Buttonwood Avenue lands on the banks of the Humber River, she said. "It's isolated. It's such a beautiful setting with hundreds of trees," Nunziata said. "The grounds are used as parkland by the community. It's part of the community. People cycle and walk through the grounds."Area traffic concerns could be addressed by the future Eglinton LRT, Nunziata speculated."For years, Emmett Avenue residents have been calling for lights at Eglinton," Nunziata said. "It never met the (traffic) warrants. With the Eglinton LRT, maybe it would meet the warrants in future."Nunziata requested the director of transportation report back on the feasibility of installing the traffic signals at the next meeting of Etobicoke York Community Council set for December.