Mountain View County councillors have given first reading to two bylaws related to the new Sundre seniors' lodge project.
During the regularly scheduled June 11 meeting, councillors met with Mountain View Seniors' Housing (MVSH) CAO Sam Smalldon, who gave councillors an update on the project.
The 103-bed facility is to be built on eight acres in southwest Sundre off 6th Street south of Main Avenue. Construction on the new facility could begin this summer.
Councillors gave first reading to Bylaw 10/14, which authorizes the county to “incur an indebtedness by the issuance of debentures in the amount of $1,252,000 for the purpose of lending money to MVSH so that MVSH can finance 2014 purchase of land for the construction of a seniors' lodge in Sundre.”
Councillors passed a first reading of a second bylaw authorizing “the loan in the amount of $1,252,000 to MVSH so that MVSH can finance the purchase of land for the Sundre seniors' lodge.”
In September, council gave approval in principle to lending MVSH authority $1,252,000 to finance the purchase of serviced land for the new lodge.
Both of the bylaws will now be advertised for two weeks, followed by a 15-day petition period. The bylaws could then come back before council for second and third reading on July 9.
“Mountain View Seniors' Housing is a management body so they are not able to borrow money directly from Alberta Capital Finance, which is the organization that provides funding for municipalities to borrow,” said Reeve Bruce Beattie, who is also the chairman of MVSH.
“So Mountain View County is borrowing on behalf of MVSH for the proposed site for the new lodge in Sundre. The Town of Sundre is purchasing the land from a private developer and then we (MVSH) are purchasing it from the town. It is a two-step process.”
On June 11 councillors also passed a motion that the county “agrees to provide financial support for any future operating deficit or debt servicing costs resulting from construction of the seniors' care centre project in Sundre” conditional on the county's requisition percentage.
In a letter sent to all municipalities represented on the MVSH board, the authority said, in part, “We have successfully obtained an ASLI (affordable supportive living initiative) grant of $3.8 million and we are now preparing for our MVSH board decision to approve the $25-million capital project which will require a borrowing of up to $22 million to complete the project.”
The letter was received by council on June 11.
MVSH has done its “due diligence” on the Sundre project to ensure costs are kept under control, said Beattie.
“We've spent four years making sure we've got our ducks in a row,” he said. “We've gone through a very lengthy process. I think our board is quite confident that we have done everything possible to ensure we've covered off all the bases.”
Giving first reading to the two June 11 bylaws was a good step for the project, he said.
“It's a positive and a collaborative approach,” he said.
