Three sites shortlisted for new K-W hospital location

A proposal to construct a new hospital with around 1,200 beds in Kitchener-Waterloo was submitted to the province by Grand River Hospital and St. Mary's General Hospital in 2022. A panel is now tasked with finding where to build it. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh)

The panel in charge of recommending the location for a new hospital in Kitchener-Waterloo says three sites have been shortlisted and are now being evaluated.

In an update posted to the project’s website last month, panel chair Carl Zehr said five proposals were received from interested property owners. Of those, three met the criteria – including being at least 50 acres in size – to move on to phase two.

While the five-person panel had originally hoped to recommend a site by the end of 2023, Zehr said the work is now not expected to be complete until early spring.

“It just simply takes that length of time for the property owners to complete all of the questions that will be asked and then the committee itself needs to weigh how each of them meet those criteria,” Zehr, who is also a former Kitchener mayor, said in an interview Tuesday.

HOW WILL A SITE BE CHOSEN?

The shortlisted sites are now being evaluated on criteria including proximity to current or future population density, major roads, transit stations and amenities. The cost of purchasing the land is also being taken into consideration, along with its size, as bigger sites will score higher.

“It's a huge decision that's going to be made,” Zehr said. “We as the panel, through the criteria, need to consider where the population is today, and where the population may be 50 years from now. And so it's a futuristic kind of discussion.”

Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital are leading the new hospital project and it will be up to a steering committee and the hospitals’ boards to approve the site recommendation once it’s made.

The hospitals declined to answer any questions on the site selection process.

Zehr said he knows some people may disagree with the final site that’s chosen and it’s expected.

“That’s just nature,” he said. “There’s public expectation that there will be some questioning of that in the future. I’m prepared for that and that’s why we're doing it with pre-established criteria, so it has as much dispassionate decision making as possible.”

PLANS FOR NEW HOSPITAL

The preliminary proposal for the new hospital submitted to the Ontario government includes a new state-of-the-art acute care facility with around 1,200 beds.

As part of the plan, Grand River Hospital would be repurposed as an ambulatory and urgent care centre. Grand River Hospital's Freeport Campus would be modernized and expanded for rehabilitation services.

The future of the St. Mary's Hospital site hasn't been decided yet.

In the summer, the hospitals said the hope is that the new facility will be built within the next 10 years.

UPCOMING TOWN HALL

Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital are hosting a town hall on Tuesday, Jan. 16 where people can ask questions and learn more about the new hospital project.

The event is free but there are a limited amount of tickets and pre-registration is required.

It's being held at the Kitchener Public Library's Queen Street Branch from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.