Another attempt is being made to secure provincial funding toward demolition of the old Sarnia General Hospital site.
Sarnia's Chief Administrative Officer Margaret Misek-Evans and City Councillor Anne Marie Gillis will meet with Deputy Premier Deb Matthews at her office in London Thursday afternoon.
"I'm following up on a discussion that I had previously with the deputy premier and I've been working on this file for the past two-and-a-half months to get some funding for the City of Sarnia to contribute to the demolition project," says Gillis. "I'm utilizing what has happened in Windsor and in London as my premise of why we should be treated the same way."
In 2014, a nine member community delegation, which included Mayor Mike Bradley, Lambton County's warden, the chamber of commerce president and labour and Bluewater Health officials, travelled to Queen's Park for the same reason and was unsuccessful in its attempt to lobby provincial funding.
"One of the things that the deputy premier said at that time was you have to bring a plan and the plan has to include a residential component," says Gillis. "The GFive plan has all of that and I think we have a little more to present then the previous one did."
GFIVE Inc. purchased the property earlier this year and is planning to build a multi-faceted development, which may also include a new Withdrawal Management Centre proposed by Bluewater Health.
As part of the sale, the city committed $5.3-million toward demolition and remediation of the site.
"Ideally, we would like to see them [the province] contribute 100%. Realistically, I think we should be treated the same as London and Windsor where they [the province] contributed 50%"
Fencing to secure the site in advance of demolition was erected this past September.
The hospital has sat empty since it closed in late 2011.
