A redevelopment of H.J. McFarland Memorial Home is in the works if provincial funding can be secured.
During Thursday’s Committee of the Whole meeting, members of Prince Edward County Council received details of the planned expansion and reconstruction for the property.
The new facility would have a total size of 114,000 square feet, just over double the size of the current home, and have 160 beds for residents.
The project is predicted to cost over 97 million dollars. Prince Edward County has budgeted 2.7 million dollars to support the design phase of the project. Approximately $400,000 of that has already been spent and and additional $128,000 is predicted to be needed to cover required changes to the design and project management costs.
Prince Edward County is seeking provincial funding to support the project. Municipal staff are advocating, alongside other organizations including the Eastern Ontario Warden’s Caucus and other Long Term Care operators, for Ontario to extend the Accelerated Construction Funding Subsidy top up in order to use those funds to help pay for the cost of construction.
Between subsidy grants and interest free loans if the subsidy is extended, the project could be completed at no net cost to the municipality. Municipal staff said that if the subsidy is going to be extended, that will probably be announced this fall.
The committee recommended a capital budget project be created to move forward with the project if the provincial funding can be secured.
The recommendation was submitted to council for final approval.
