Sarnia's mayor says council should hold off before making any decisions on a development proposal for the former Sarnia General Hospital lands.
At its meeting Monday, city council will consider an agreement of purchase and sale for the Mitton St. site from five local businessmen.
GFIVE Inc. is proposing a multi-faceted development including residential and commercial components, and possible construction of a new Withdrawal Management Centre proposed by Bluewater Health.
It would see the city pay the buyers $5.35-million toward various stages of remediation and demolition.
Mayor Mike Bradley says city staff should gather input from the community before a final decision is made.
"There's been a public process all the way through this issue of the Sarnia General Hospital site," says Bradley. "It doesn't end just because you received a proposal. That proposal, because it involves public lands, and buildings and a request for $5.3-million in taxpayers' money, deserves further public input."
Staff options to finance the project include borrowing externally, or drawing on reserves and adding 1% to the general tax levy for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Councillor Brian White likes the proposal.
"I think $5.3-million sounds like a lot of money off the top but, in context to other brownfield sites across the country, it's actually a fairly small number," says White. "Municipalities everywhere have to deal with these kinds of issues all of the time and, in fact, we're getting a pretty good deal at $5.3-million particularly because it's capped at that."
The same five businessmen were involved in an initial development proposal in 2014 that did not proceed.
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