$200-M seniors complex proposed in Innisfil (4 photos)

INNISFIL - Tollendale Village in Barrie’s south end is a booming retirement community, so much so that a second $200-million seniors campus is being proposed for Innisfil.

An open house and public meeting will be held next week to discuss a proposed retirement complex just outside the Barrie city limits.

Simcoe County Christian Senior Home Inc., a non-profit registered charity which operates Tollendale Village on Hurst Drive in Barrie, is making a pitch to Innisfil town council to build a second seniors complex in the area.

The project is slated for a 35-acre property on the north side of Big Bay Point Road, between The Queensway and Prince William Way, which the organization bought in 2012.

“We didn’t really get the ball rolling until about a year ago and the biggest reason was servicing,” said project manager Sid Tjeerdsma, who’s also a resident at the Barrie facility, which he also worked on more than two decades ago

The City of Barrie has agreed to extend water and sewer services to the Innisfil site, “for which we are very thankful,” Tjeerdsma told BarrieToday.

A concept plan has been developed for a new Innisfil campus, which could include a 160-bed long-term care facility, as well as a 52-unit assisted living facility, 388 one- and two-bedroom retirement apartments, an amenity building and underground parking.

Assisted living quarters, which is a middle ground between retirement apartments and the full-care nursing home, is one notable aspect the current Tollendale Village does not offer that they want to have at the proposed Innisfil site.

“There’s just more care than there is elsewhere, but not as much as in the nursing home,” Tjeerdsma said. “We would basically have three levels of care.”

The northern portion of the Innisfil property includes a 12-acre woodlot which Tjeerdsma said would be untouched and provide walking trails for residents once complete.

“It’s got some natural, beautiful trails through it,” he said. “It’s just gorgeous and that’s what intrigued us about this site.”

THE EVER-GROWING NEED

Tollendale Village, located on Hurst Drive in Barrie and home to more than 500 people, consists of a 160-bed Mill Creek Care Centre nursing home, and 264 one- and two-bedroom apartments as well as 20 semi-detached ‘garden homes’.

There is a growing waiting list of around 1,000 units, or about 1,500 people, seeking accommodations at Tollendale Village, so Tjeerdsma says there is an obvious need for second location.

“We can only accommodate roughly 24 units per year, with people moving out or passing away, so we would never be able to accommodate all those people here,” Tjeerdsma said. “And that’s just us. Around the region, there’s many, many more people that are going to be needing these facilities.”

There is also a huge need for long-term care beds, as that segment of the greying population continues to grow.

Occupancy at Tollendale Village 2 would be based on a so-called ‘life lease’, similar to what happens at the Barrie facility. As an example, someone could pay $200,000 for their unit; when they move out, they get their full investment back, minus one per cent for maintenance and upkeep.

“You don’t actually own it,” Tjeerdsma said. “The organization takes it over again and they make it available to the next tenant and generally they do it at the same price. They don’t need to make any money -- we’re not in the business of making money -- so, over time the units become very affordable.”

Except for a portion of the nursing home, which would receive government funding, most of the project would be privately funded, he said.

If built as planned, Tollendale Village 2 would be one of the largest, if not the largest, seniors facilities in the county.

Tjeerdsma said the finished project would create around 200 full-time jobs, in addition to numerous construction jobs while the facility is being built.

For Tollendale Village 2 to get the green light, the project requires an Official Plan amendment from the Town of Innisfil as well as rezoning. To support those applications, Simcoe County Christian Senior Home Inc., was asked to carry out several studies, including traffic and environmental, as well as soil and groundwater.

“None of those studies found any reason for not being allowed to build on that site,” Tjeerdsma said.  

An open house will be held Wednesday, Sept. 12 beginning at 5:30 p.m. at Innisfil Town Hall (2101 Innisfil Beach Rd.) to give people a chance to look at the plan, its location and general layout, followed by a public meeting starting at 6:30 p.m. where they can offer their opinions.

“Of course, we’re in the middle of an election and we don’t know if the current council would be able to make a decision before the election, but that would be nice,” Tjeerdsma said. “Otherwise, we have to deal with the new council afterwards.”

If all goes according to plan and town approvals are granted within the next few months, Tjeerdsma said he would like to see ground broken on the project’s first phase in the late summer/early fall of 2019.

“That would be ideal. It’s now up to the council in Innisfil to decide whether they want this or not. If they agree with us and they want it, it’s on the way,” Tjeerdsma said, adding the feeling he has been getting from the current council is that they’re “supportive.”