Planning committee green lights Tidal View

By Michael Gorman

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

The replacement facility for Tidal View cleared its first hurdle last week when the town's Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) voted to recommend to council that it enter into a development agreement with Tidal View.

Committee members discussed the matter for just a short while before deciding to accept the town planner's recommendation to proceed with the process. Questions regarding environmental concerns were appeased and the planner, Arthur MacDonald, said that he added a clause to the development agreement that would only permit work on the facility during the day, so as to minimize the impact on the surrounding residents.

The matter of a new Tidal View has been a point of contention for town council ever since it was announced that the Tidal View board decided to select a location off the hospital site. In this case, the new location is a large piece of land just off of Pleasant Street.

While all of council has been outspoken about their support for a new facility, several members of council voiced concern about yet another large piece of land coming off the town's tax role. It is well documented that about half of the land in the town of Yarmouth is tax exempt, which is a cause for concern when it comes to finding new ways to generate revenue for the town to operate while, at the same time, keeping the tax rate at an affordable level.

Although members of the PAC said they support the project and hope to see it go through, several echoed council's concern regarding the tax base.

If the PAC's recommendation to council is accepted, the next step would be to proceed to a public hearing on the matter, the normal practice for such an undertaking. The issue will come up this Thursday at council's regular meeting.

The new facility is expected to have the same number of beds, however it would be spread over one level, which would give residents more space to move about. The plan is in keeping with the Department of Health's new guidelines with respect to long-term care facility designs.