-Possibility of offering day-surgery and emergency services at centre being considered-

OSOYOOS TIMES-October 15, 2008-

By Paul EverestrnOsoyoos Times

A new development proposal for land bordering Peanut Lake between the Avalon Mobile Home Park and the Econo Lodge has been pitched to Osoyoos town council.
Ron Bartsch of Osoyoos, who owns the parcel of land with partner Stanley Yasin of Vancouver, said the plan is to build three residential complexes on the site along with a medical/professional centre in three phases over the next seven years.
The residential buildings would be eight, six and 10 storeys in height and would contain 237 units altogether.
The fourth building, which Bartsch said would put Osoyoos's health-care services under one roof, would stand five-storeys high, house more than 3,700-square-metres of medical, professional and retail space and border Hwy. 3, with one level below the retaining wall adjacent to the street.
Bartsch added that, if built, the centre would have facilities to accommodate day surgeries and emergency services.
Having such a centre would improve Osoyoos's medical infrastructure and help the community attract doctors and other medical specialists to the area, he said.
And, centralizing the town's medical facilities into one building close to downtown Osoyoos could mean that people have to drive less for health services.
Pat Fawcus, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia's director of non-hospital medical surgical facilities programs, said the proposal of having a facility capable of day surgeries outside a hospital is possible.
But there are stringent criteria that would need to be met before such a centre could open for business.
An accreditation team from the college would have to look at aspects such as the physical space of the proposed facility, the types of procedures that would be offered and whether the physicians who would work in the centre would be qualified to carry out those procedures.
Fawcus said the centre would have to carry out its operations exactly as a hospital does it.rnShe added that there are 73 private facilities in B.C. that offer day surgery services and the college likes to work with developers to make sure they follow all provincial guidelines in building such a centre.
She suggested that anyone who wants to create a centre such as the one Bartsch proposes work with the college from the onset so that its criteria can be met as the development unfolds.
According to an impact assessment on the proposed development prepared by Kamloops-based Peak Solutions Consulting Inc., the project would cost roughly $94 million while creating 650 person years of direct employment.
Roughly 80 per cent of the construction labour could be sourced from the local area, the assessment read.
The selling price of the residential units would be between $200,000 and $600,000 with 70 per cent of the units designed as affordable homes targeted at young families and older home owners.rnThe assessment also states that the people who would move into the development would pump roughly $6 million into the local economy while creating upwards of 136 jobs.rnAnd the medical centre would be home to as many as 10 doctors and 60 other workers in the fields of retail and health services.
The site would be accessed by a right-of-way off Hwy. 3 near the mobile home park, Bartsch said, and the street winding through the development would be dedicated to the city.rnAfter purchasing the property, which is zoned for high-density residential, four years ago, the owners proposed to build three four-storey residential buildings in three phases, Bartsch said.
The proposal came up at the same time as the Watermark Beachfront Resort application, however, and the Town asked the owners to reconsider their application.
The new proposal was submitted to the Town in May and council had a preliminary look at the new development designs on Oct. 6.
If approved by the Town, the site would have to be rezoned as comprehensive development and Osoyoos's Official Community Plan would need to be amended.
Bartsch said the aim would be to maintain view corridors between any structures and sustainable and green building practices would be used for the development.
He added that geothermal energy and the use of grey water would also be looked at.
The buildings would cover roughly 20 per cent of the site, Bartsch said, and a walkway with public access would be constructed along the shore of the lake.
Two open houses where the community can check out the proposal will be held at the Sonora Community Centre on October 23 and 30 from 4 to 7 p.m.
news@osoyoostimes.comrn