Raw, unofficial minutes of Jan 24 consultation
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

UHCA executive members Craig McDougall, Robin Randers, Tom Yanota and Penney Kome
met with representatives from CRHA (Roman Cooney, Art Froese, Vince Rodych);  ACH (Brent Scott MD, Head of Pediatrics) U of C (Lori Van Rooijen, James Tenute), the site selection committee (Eileen Grant), Ald Dale Hodges and the Hon Murray Smith

UHCA set the agenda. Here are UHCA points, and the responses:

1. RESULTS OF COMMUNITY SURVEY
a) >85% opposed to West Campus site;
b) >95% indicated Phase I consultation was inadequate;
c)  Reasons for oppositions include: ideal delivery of health care;
use of land endowed to the University; environmental issues; property values;
traffic, noise and quality of life);
d)  Residents have express a strong sense of betrayal;
e)  The following were identified by residents and the UHCA Board as necessary for non-adversarial pursuit of Phase II constultation

2. ADDITIONAL REQUIRED INFORMATION:
a) Full “real-time” disclosure on all aspect of proposed site development (including all functions and designs, owners, operators, and lessees);

ANSWERS: CRHA expects a report from the Programs Committee, who were exploring ACH program needs, in about 3 or 4 weeks. CRHA will release this info publicly & UHCA will have access to it that way.
 The new ACH will be part of the overall CRHA longterm plan, which will probably include “diagnostic & treatment centres” (eg, walk-in clinics?) in the North and in the South of the city.
 The University’s 140 pp Campus Community Plan should be available by Jan 31, and will be presented to U of C’s Board of Governors for approval on Feb 1.
 In response to a direct question about whether the programs provided would be public or private, non-profit or for-profit, Dr Brent Scott of ACH said, “There are no for-profit people sitting around the table at ACH planning sessions.”
 But other responses were more equivocal. CRHA maintained that program needs would change over time, and so would the services offered at that site. Later in the meeting, CRHA said that the hospital would be planned so that it could eventually double in size.

ANSWERS: CRHA agreed that the Site Selection Committee recommendation wasn’t well explained publicly.
Dr Brent Scott of ACH said that a staff association poll found “a solid majority” of ACH medical staff preferred the West Campus site, for reasons of patient care and of recruitment & retention of M.D.s and specialists. He said, however, that the “CFB site wouldn’t have been bad.”
Eileen Grant of the Site Selection Committee said that the Committee had to consider the entire CRHA healthcare system in selecting a new ACH site. She said that every site had flaws. Two sites were clearly unworkable: the former DMV site in Parkdale, and the Foothills site “were not reasonable,” mainly because the available space was too small.  The decision about a South site was influenced by longterm plans to put a diagnostic & treatment facility in the South, perhaps ten years down the road, whereas CRHA hopes to have the new Children’s Hospital in operation in 5 years. 

ANSWER: This should be made available on Jan 31, at the regular Advisory Committee meeting.
ALSO: Ald Dale Hodges said that the City will hire a consultant to study traffic issues in the entire NW region, from Pt McKay to Northland Drive, to Crowchild Trail and to [16th Ave?] This was a suggestion from Varsity Community Association, reflecting concerns about traffic around Market Mall and other shopping centres, as well as the U of C and Foothills Hospital. The study should be ready this summer or September, and will be public information. 

ANSWER: CRHA and U of C are moving to implement a planning process similar to that required by the City for other undeveloped parcels of land. The City requires an Environmental Assessment as part of the process, but not the kind of Environmental Impact Assessment as carried out by the NRCB [Natural Resources Conservation Board]

CRHA is aware of community concerns about the foxes living on the grasslands and pledges to be sensitive to the wildlife.

CRHA was somewhat taken aback by direct questions concerning emissions from a new power plant or incinerator, electromagnetic fields from electrical generation or conduction, or noise issues associated with the helicopter or hospital itself. Art Froese requested that UHCA RESIDENTS SHOULD PRESENT SPECIFIC QUESTIONS ABOUT SPECIFIC CONCERNS FOR THE CRHA TO INVESTIGATE.

The UHCA Board requests that concerned residents  forward their Environmental Impact Assessment suggestions to us. Click herewebweaver@uhca.freeservers.com
Or contact us through the uhca-news email list, the contact list of email addresses on this website, or through the phone numbers provided on the front page of every UHCA newsletter.

Regarding potential noise issues from the proposed interchange and overpass, Mr Froese said CRHA’S CONSULTANT WILL WANT TO PLACE NOISE DETECTORS IN 2 TO 5 LOCATIONS ALONG 16TH AVENUE, IN RESIDENTS’ BACKYARDS, AND HE REQUESTED UHCA ENCOURAGE RESIDENTS TO PERMIT THESE DETECTORS. The noise study should probably be available about four weeks after it starts.

ANSWER: The University is exploring new ways to meet its electrical needs, in the face of rising electrical costs. One possibility is to harness steam from the heating plant to spin turbines and thus generate electricity onsite. UHCA residents have expressed concerns about the noise and electromagnetic fields that might be generated as well. Lori van Rooijen said that the U is in the very early stages of exploring its options and said she would share information once it was available but she was not able to estimate at all when that might be. She took under advisement UHCA’s statement that residents would regard co-generation as industrial use of the land.

5) APPEAL MECHANISM
a) Some sort of pre-defined conflict resolution mechanism is essential to a genuine consultation plan

ANSWER: CRHA and U of C are moving to adopt the process that the City has used to plan other undeveloped parcels of land, such as Bridgeland and the empty  CFB base. UHCA likes this model, but thinks more involvement may be needed. The City process includes several levels of review by City Council and planning department which would not automatically be built in to the West Campus process.

CRHA asked if UHCA wanted involvement in deciding where the hospital goes on the West Campus land, or deciding where it goes in the city?
UHCA wants to help decide where it goes in the city.

The Hon Murray Smith suggested that, since UHCA seems to be the most concerned community in the immediate area, perhaps the planning process could be streamlined by striking a new subcommittee of the NW Advisory Group to ensure timely flow of information, and to plan Open Houses and Town Halls.  Members would include the UHCA rep, a City rep, the U of C, CRHA, Murray Smith and Dale Hodges. Mr Smith said that such a committee would indeed require a dispute-resolution mechanism.  He said that, “the bigger picture suggests to me that perhaps the Universities Act may need some adjustment somewhere down the road.”

Mr Smith said that, in his view, UHCA has had a great deal of  influence since 1994 over plans for development on the grasslands. Roman Cooney of the CRHA said, “You don’t want an exercise where we simply hand out information, and neither do we.”   Lori van Rooijen said that the University wants to go through the City process, “even though we don’t have to, because we learned through the Campus Community Process that people want that.”

Craig McDougall said, on behalf of UHCA, “This meeting represents real movement and I’m pleased to see it.”

CRHA wants to have access to the site in order to begin grading by the end of 2001, in hopes to beginning real construction in Spring of 2002. No design has yet been drawn or commissioned.

JAN 31: FIRST (LOCAL) TRAFFIC STUDY AVAILABLE
JAN 31: NW Advisory Committee to discuss timelines for planning process and review of land use protocols

ACH SERVICE PROGRAMS COMMITTEE REPORT: end of February, beginning of March
NW REGION TRAFFIC STUDY AVAILABLE: late summer, early fall 2001

UH NOISE STUDY RE: 16TH AVE AND PROPOSED OVERPASS: starting soon (early Feb?); report should be available about 4 weeks later

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT STUDY: date not determined; UH residents invited to submit specific questions to UHCA

OPEN HOUSES, TOWN HALLS: dates not determined

CRHA LONGTERM PLAN OPEN HOUSES

BEGIN GRADING FOR ROADWORK: end of   2001
BEGIN CONSTRUCTION FOR NEW HOSPITAL: Spring 2002

Back to top of page