Seed money for North Frontenac senior's housing remains in limbo

Jeff Green | Sep 28, 2022

At their meeting last week (September 21) Frontenac County Council decided, reluctantly, to defer a decision on what will become of $337,500 that was allocated in 2014 as seed money to create a senior's housing project in North Frontenac.

North Frontenac Mayor, and Frontenac County Deputy Warden, Ron Higgins, put forward a motion that the money be transferred to North Frontenac Township Senior's reserve fund to be used to help North Frontenac Senior's remain in their existing homes.

Before speaking to his request, however, Higgins' made the request for a deferral.

At least part of the reason that he made the request was the fact that the next item on the county agenda was a motion from Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith, to be considered only if Higgins motion were defeated.

Smith's motion was to use the $337,500 to help cover the start up costs related to a Municipal Services Corporation (MSC), whose start up costs all Frontenac Townships (except North Frontenac) have agreed to fund out of local township budgets.

In her motion, Smith made reference to the $337,500 being money that was intended specifically for seniors, by saying that the MSC has the “specific intent to provide the full range of housing options for County citizens, including seniors”

North Frontenac made a similar request in 2018, after a survey indicated that 80% of North Frontenac Seniors preferred remaining in their own home, with supports, to moving to senior's housing.

The 2018 request was rejected by Frontenac County Council, on the grounds that the reserve funds had been created to build housing, not to create new services.

Since then North Frontenac put our request for proposal (RFP) for a private developer to build a senior's housing project, making use of the $337,500 as an incentive, but there was no response to the RFP.

Higgins said that given Frances Smith's motion, there could be lots of options for using the money since for the first time using the money for something other than a bricks and mortar project is being promoted by someone other than a North Frontenac council member.

“What I'm saying is there is a lot to consider” he said.

Each of the Frontenac Townships were allocated $337,500 n 2014. In Marysville, on Wolfe Island, the Frontenac Islands share of the fund was used to entice a developer to put up a 5-unit seniors housing project, that has been built.

South and Central Frontenac have not used their share of the money. Both townships are working on a senior's housing project, in Verona and Sharbot Lake respectively, but both projects are on hold pending the creation of the Municipal Services Corporation that Frances Smith would like to use North Frontenac's share of the fund to help finance.

The delay is necessary because both Central and South Frontenac are hoping to create a much larger project than the Wolfe Island 5-unit building, and only with an MSC in place will those kinds of larger developments be viable in, because of the lack of municipal sewer and water systems in Verona and Sharbot Lake.

South Frontenac intends to construct the Verona Senior's project themselves, and Central Frontenac is planning to create favourable conditions for a developer to step forward and build something at the former public school site in Sharbot Lake. (see Central Frontenac Township report on page ???)

In debating Higgins motion to defer, Frances Smith said “North Frontenac has had a couple of years to deal with this $337,500. I don't want this to be delayed. Meanwhile our seniors don't have a place to live.”

South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal said “I don't agree with deferring this. If anything the municipal services corporations, if it is to be set up, deals with the exact intent of this money, getting senior's housing built. I'm not in favour of deferring this until October to think about ways to sit on this money.

Vandewal also question the survey that North Frontenac completed in 2018.

“Every senior will tell you they don't want to move. They want to stay where they are. But there are waiting lists for assisted living and long term care,” he said.

South Frontenac Council member Alan Revill said he is not necessarily in favour of Higgins' ideas about where the money should go, but added “I am willing to defer in order to look at them.”

North Frontenac Councillor Fred Fowler, sitting in as an alternate in place of Gerry Martin, said that a proposal for emergency senior's housing in North Frontenac may come forward, and a short deferral would give the opportunity for that option to be explored

Higgins said that he did not want the matter to be deferred until any later than the October meeting of Council.

“This council needs to deal with this. I don't want to saddle a new council with this, when we are the ones who know the context.”

With support from the Frontenac Island's members of Council, the motion to defer was approved by a show of hands.