Rezoning application next step in redeveloping former hospital in Sudbury

Plans to redevelop Sudbury hospital at new stage Sudbury's planning committee is being asked to approve rezoning for an ambitious plan to redevelop the former hospital on Paris Street.

Greater Sudbury's planning committee will vote Nov. 25 on a rezoning and official plan amendment for the former hospital in Sudbury, a key step in a major redevelopment of the Paris Street site.

Panoramic Properties' plan includes three buildings on the site, along with a restaurant and a three-storey underground parking garage.

Included in the plans is a 12-storey, 109-unit retirement home, along with a 16-storey building with 199 units and a 20-storey building with 222 units.

"The site design includes realigning the Paris Street driveway to align with Boland Avenue, construction of a sidewalk on the south side of Facer Street between Paris Street and Bell Park Road, the reconstruction of Bell Park Road south of Facer Street to a 6-metre-wide private driveway, widening of the sidewalk on Paris Street and inclusion of bike lanes and a bus lay-by," a staff report on the plan said.

The 16-storey building would be rental units, mostly two-bedrooms, while the 20-storey building would be condominiums.

Plans also include a restaurant on the top floor of the 20-storey building and a café on the ground floor of the retirement home.

The property was home to the Sudbury General Hospital until 2010, when three hospitals in Sudbury were merged into Health Sciences North.

Located next to Bell Park on Ramsey Lake, there has been considerable public pressure to do something with the derelict hospital building on a prime piece of property in the city.

This is the second of a two-stage public hearing process to redevelop the land. Panoramic is applying for an official plan amendment and rezoning to increase the allowable residential density to permit "380 square metres of commercial space," the report said.

"Zoning relief is requested for increased building height, reduced setbacks, reduced lot area per unit and reduced courts between buildings."

The development would include a total of 647 parking spaces on the site, including 55 surface parking spaces for the restaurant and visitor parking for the retirement home.

The three-storey underground parking garage would be accessible from Bell Park Road and Paris Street.

"To the west of Paris Street and north of Facer Street is a well-established low-density residential neighbourhood with dwellings dating from the early 1900s," the report said.

Approval recommended

"To the south and east are city-owned parklands known as Bell Park. A city-owned parking lot consisting of approximately 290 spaces abuts to the south of the subject lands."

The report recommends the planning committee approve the application.

"The proposal represents an opportunity to provide additional rental units or condominium units, and staff recommends that this proposal is consistent with and conforms to these policies," the report said.

"Further, this proposal supports the city’s municipal housing pledge to achieve the target of 3,800 new homes constructed by 2031."

A traffic impact study found that the development would generate far less traffic than the former hospital – "approximately 1,390 fewer trips during a typical weekday," the report said.

No timeline for construction was included. Read all the reports on the proposal here.