Old Sudbury hospital an ‘eyesore,’ residents say
The Sudbury Star
By Mary Katherine Keown,
09 August 2017
The former St. Joseph's Health Centre
It was once the bastion of health care in Sudbury and most Sudburians
would have been born within its walls, but these days, the old St.
Joseph's Health Centre on Paris Street is looking rather rough.
Windows are blown out, there is graffiti on the exterior walls and some
walls are crumbling. The site is surrounded by a construction fence,
but there has been no activity at the hospital for months. It has, as
some have noted, become an eyesore.
"Why has @GreaterSudbury allowed former St. Joseph's Health Centre site
to become an eyesore? The developer should be made to clean it up now,"
asked Brian Vendramin, a business professor at Cambrian College, on
Twitter.
Todd Robson replied that the city should appropriate (or seize) the land.
"Appropriate the land," he wrote in response to Vendramin. "Any
proactive city that values image would not let this sit for more than
half a decade."
Vendramin said the time for excuses has passed. He posited that the
city should revoke the building permit, issue a cleanup order "and see
if there is a will to move forward."
The Star placed calls to Panoramic Properties Inc., which owns the old
hospital site, but company officials did not respond. They have said
they are building 210 units in the former hospital and in a new tower
adjacent to the hospital. As recently as June 2016, Panoramic was
projecting that residents could move into the luxury apartments by the
end of this year. That now seems unlikely.
Arlene Vendetti, who wrote into The Star to complain about the site, said it looks like a slum.
"There is barbed wire fence surrounding it, empty debris containers and
junk all over the Paris Street front of the building," she wrote.
"Blasting mats and debris on the Facer Street, access to Bell Park.
Boarded up and broken windows. Most people who access the downtown pass
directly in front of this mess. I wonder what people who have never
visited Sudbury before think?"
Vendetti lives near the former hospital and she said her family does not appreciate the impact the site is having on the area.
"It has been this way for several years," she wrote. "We were told at a
meeting when the rezoning was in progress that it was to be condos. Now
we have been told by the owner of the property that it is going to be
rented units. Is there no time limit for the builder to complete or at
least start construction? Other than that could the site not be cleaned
up until construction begins?"
Vendetti thinks that posting photos of the completed project would help curry some good favour amongst the neighbours.
"Could they not post a picture, on the site, of what the facility will,
or should look like upon completion," she said. "Otherwise we are left
with what looks like an abandoned prison. Can someone shed light on
when this mess may be cleared up?"
Unfortunately, there is not much the city can do, as long as the
property is not abandoned. Fern Cormier, the councillor for Ward 10,
which includes the former hospital, said on Twitter he looked into the
matter.
"I've checked with building services again. There is no law under which
we can force them to do anything as long as it's not 'abandoned'," he
wrote.
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