Council has turned down the hospital’s request for their new CT Room to be exempt from the towns required infrastructure development costs.
At Tuesday nights Council meeting council heard from Cormac Hikisch from Northern Health about the proposed CT Room.
Hikisch expressed concerns that the projects $970,000 budget did not account for the towns mandatory offsite work standards.
Hikisch said the project had the potential to be delayed or even canceled if they have to go back to ask for more money at this point in the process.
He was unable to speculate on the odds of, however, Councillor Frank Wray said this project did not seem like one council should take a stand on by enforcing the bylaw.
“We are taking a chance, and I don’t know how likely this is, but there is a chance we will get neither the machine or the off-site works if this kills the project,” said Wray.
Wray’s motion to support the request was defeated four to three with council, in the end, voting for a partial variance which requires the hospitals plan to cover $131,000 in refurbishing as opposed to the previous $500,000.
The bylaw which requires all projects valued at over $100,000 to complete off-site work such as adding in sidewalks, storm-drains and curbs have been the subject of controversy in the past.
Previous projects like the Child Development Center which also relied on donations have had to comply with the bylaw, receiving partial variances.
“We try to make decisions that are in the best long-term interest of the community, it was a good discussion and good debate, and in the end, council made the decision they made,” said Mayor Bachrach.