Posted on by Alan Halberstadt

by Alan Halberstadt

My January column, submitted to Biz X magazine before Christmas, published this week, contains the revelation that the number one competing site for the regional mega hospital is a huge swath of urban core land northeast of the Jefferson Ave. and Tecumseh Road East intersection, in the vicinity of the Serbian Centre.

According to CAMPP, the group opposed to the County Road 42 site, that the consolidated Jefferson Street properties are well over the required 60 acres. CAMPP, an opponent of urban sprawl, points out that the Jefferson site is surrounded by dense residential and commercial development fully serviced with superior transportation access. This is not the case with the County Road 42 cornfield site.

At the time of my deadline, CAMPP leader Shane Mitchell was waiting impatiently on a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Windsor Regional to disclose the identity of the other bidders on the mega hospital site, and the criteria and scorecard employed by the 11-member site selection panel to pick the winning location.

Word on the street has it that the final short-list pitted the farmer who owns the chosen land versus the Jefferson Ave. consortium. The mega hospital steering committee has reportedly offered the farmer $6 million for 60 acres of land, double the market price, according to Mitchell.

I learned this morning (Wed. January 6th, 2016) that Windsor Regional Hospital officials are about to release the identify of competing sites later today to the mainstream media.

Alan Halberstadt

Opinion Editorial. Alan Halberstadt is a career journalist who served on Windsor City Council for 17 years before deciding not to run for re-election in 2014. Alan Halberstadt believes all businesses share a common interest in how governments spend tax dollars. The emphasis of his columns is to expose and comment on the political gymnastics and taxation excesses of bureaucracies. As a former Windsor City Councillor he has a particular insight on how local municipal governments function or not. Opinions expressed by Alan Halberstadt are not necessarily those of Biz X magazine or its advertisers.