BARRY’S BAY – Madawaska Valley Council spent some time at the regular meeting on February 21 discussing ideas to be considered for the Valley Manor rebuild.
The township purchased the former Sherwood Public School at St. Francis Memorial Drive when it first went up for sale and recently sold it to the Valley Manor. The manor plans to rebuild a two or three storey facility, split into three units, or neighborhoods.
At the latest council meeting, Mayor Kim Love presented a report from the Valley Manor corporate development committee.
“This is an important facility in our community and as this redevelopment moves forward, it’s important that you are aware of what they are looking at and what the process is,” Love said.
She touched on the design concepts, which differ significantly from the current Mintha Street manor.
“It’s not private but it’s a lot closer to private,” Love spoke about the rooms. “It’s a nicer set up. You feel you have your own space.”
Love said the committee is looking for opportunities to develop partnerships to incorporate some revenue generating space.
“If they build three of these [neighborhoods], it’s easier to build four if they need to expand,” Love noted.
The committee has asked council to brainstorm ways that potential space can be used.
“For example, one of the things they talked about is the various partnerships with the hospital. They talked about having space that could be for specific services like physiotherapists. This would be like rental space in the building. Should they need more capacity, then, at a later date, should they get those beds and have that capacity, then revamp that space as part of Valley Manor,” Love explained. “In the interim, those spaces would be revenue generating so that it would support the building of that space.”
Love then opened the discussion to councillors for ideas.
Get your March 1, 2017 edition of The Valley Gazette to read the full article.