A decision by council to hold off on providing funding to the Hospice Society may delay the ground breaking of a new Hospice House, according to city staff.
The Campbell River Hospice Society is asking the city to pay for servicing costs, as well as funds for building permit fees, and any development cost charges related to developing the property at 402 Evergreen Road, next to the new hospital.
Elle Brovold, the city’s property manager, said the Hospice project team has decided to go ahead with a future addition to the building which results in higher building permit fees and development cost charges.
Brovold said the new estimated building permit fee is $5,910 and the new estimated development cost charges are $17,729, which is an overall increase of $12,803 to city fees and charges from what was originally quoted.
Brovold said Hospice has asked that the city cover those fees as well as $65,500 in servicing costs which is more than anticipated due to the existing soil conditions, the fact services will have to be realigned to be on an angle, and due to significant infrastructure in the roadway.
At the Nov. 23 council meeting, Coun. Larry Samson said he wanted to defer a decision on funding until the 2016 budget deliberations which get underway on Monday.
“I just think it’s a significant amount of money, it’s not going to hold anything up,” Samson said.
But Brovold disagreed, saying that the property requires subdividing before construction on the Hospice House can begin. Before the city can approve a subdivision, however, there needs to be servicing provided to the property. The problem, said Brovold, is Hospice does not have the money to pay for the servicing.
“Currently Hospice does not have the funds to secure this servicing to happen without the additional funding from council,” Brovold said. “So if it were to not be approved tonight it would hold up the subdivision and I believe Hospice was wanting to break ground in December so it could potentially delay their timing.”
Once all the permits are approved, Hospice intends to build a 2,476 square foot house to provide a home-like setting for its clients. The facility will be constructed with an addition to possibly house end-of-life beds pending an agreement with Island Health.
The property for the house was donated to Hospice by the city. The property is valued at $194,011 and council agreed earlier this year to provide Hospice with a $43,016 grant to cover the original costs of permits, fees and development cost charges.
Last week, council was hesitant to give the Hospice Society more without first seeing what its budget for next year will look like. In a narrow, three-to-three vote, with Adams and councillors Michele Babchuk and Ron Kerr opposed, council decided to wait until next week’s budget planning to make a decision on providing more funding.