Long-term-care facility planned for west St. Catharines

A long-term-care home is being planned in west St. Catharines that will add 104 beds in the city and replace an older facility on Pelham Road.

Extendicare St. Catharines requested a zoning amendment from city council Monday night to allow for a four-storey, 256-bed facility at 1956 Third St., just south of Pathstone Mental Health’s building and north of the CN rail line.

The long-term-care home will accommodate more residents than Extendicare’s 152 beds at 283 Pelham Rd.

“The development proposal intends to offer additional long-term care, housing and health-care options within the city of St. Catharines,” said Elizabeth Farrugia, a senior planner with GSP Group Inc. for Extendicare.

“Furthermore, it is anticipated to provide employment opportunities in the form of construction jobs, nurses and other health care and support professionals.”

City council unanimously approved the zoning amendment to change the 2.6 hectares land from business commercial employment with special provision to medium density mixed use.

The move was somewhat of a technicality following an official plan amendment in November 2020 by city council.

At that time, city council approved Official Plan Amendment 26, which redesignated lands west of St. Catharines hospital and the former General Motors property on Ontario Street from employment, or industrial, to mixed use. The mixed use designation permits a long-term-care facility.

City planner Evan Acs explained Monday the zoning bylaw was not updated to reflect the changes approved by the plan amendment, so an application was required to add a long-term-care facility as a permitted use.

St. George’s Coun. Kevin Townsend questioned why the facility won’t have more than four storeys, given the need for long-term-care beds and the site’s ideal location close to the hospital.

Officials from Extendicare said they get a licence allocation from the Ministry of Long-Term Care and follow guidelines and expectations of the ministry for buildings.

Janis Dombrovskis, Extendicare director of architectural services, said 32-bed modules will be built and there are certain limitations when it comes to parking and number of storeys with the CN rail corridor next door.

“While I completely agree with what councillors were mentioning about the high need of long-term residences in our neighbourhoods and communities, the 256 beds is what is being proposed in this particular community given all of the constraints from design to the ministry to the location and the capacity of the land to carry it.”

Mayor Mat Siscoe called it a good news story.

“While I echo the concerns that Coun. Townsend has raised, it’s good to see that there are additional beds being built in our community.”

St. Andrew’s Coun. Joe Kushner said he is grateful Extendicare didn’t move on from St. Catharines when the Third Street property was tied up at the Ontario Land Tribunal.

After Official Plan Amendment 26 was approved, it was appealed by a Port Weller developer who had requested land at 406 Lakeshore Rd. next to Heddle Shipyards be redesignated from employment lands to mixed use.

The property owner wanted to develop a 1,081-unit mixed residential building on the site, but city council rejected the request. The appeal included all lands mentioned in the official plan amendment, pausing development.

The Ontario Land Tribunal found in favour of the city and approved the official plan amendment in April 2022.

“It’s unfortunate that this has taken a long time and it’s not due to our staff, it’s due to a private developer from Port Weller who objected to the zoning of this property and the GM properties,” Kushner said.

“We were fortunate that the proponent Extendicare didn’t look at other communities but had confidence in our community.”

Zane Colt, senior government relations consultant at Extendicare, said once the new long-term-care building is built, the Pelham Road facility will be decommissioned and sold.

He said in other communities in Ontario, it has had offers for decommissioned buildings from hospitals and municipalities for the purpose of treatment facilities, detox facilities, shelters and affordable housing units.

“We’re happy to have those conversations with the municipality or hospitals when the time is right before putting it to an open market,” he said.

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