Critics of the new acute care hospital location are accusing the City of Windsor of using old development data while planning for the future.
The Citizens for an Accountable Mega-Hospital Planning Process (CAMPP) released a report on Tuesday called "Building for the Past" as it renews calls to not build the new mega-hospital near the Windsor Airport.
Group member Philippa von Ziegenweidt says Windsor has an outdated vision that no longer represents the city's realistic future. She says the plan expands Windsor's development footprint by 400 hectares and features Canada's most distant hospital relative to the city it serves. She adds it proposes new houses for 7,100 people, which represents 92% of all anticipated new Windsor residents until 2036 and creates space for 6,900 jobs, even though the region's working population is expected to decline until 2041.
von Ziegenweidt says the County Rd. 42 Secondary Plan is inaccurate and is missing updated demographic information and analysis.
"It needs a re-think, we need to go back to the drawing board. We all want a new hospital, we all want hospital investment but doing it this way is not the right way for our future," says von Ziegenweidt."If you go through the demographics of the report, it shows that our population is only to grow by 3.5% in the next 12 years or so and then it's going to peter out. In the report, it says our population might decline after that because of the aging,"
The issue is up before Windsor council Monday night and von Ziegenweidt says the group will appeal if council approves the plan.
CAMPP says the plan decreases access to hospital-based health care services for the majority of Windsor's population, puts the hospital too far away for most vulnerable patients in Windsor, and will kill the downtown area as residents move to be closer to services. The group wants the new hospital within the boundary of EC Row, Huron Church, the Detroit River, and Lauzon Rd.
Windsor Regional Hospital continues defending its position saying 70% of patients live within 12 km of the new hospital and downtown patients will have access to an urgent care centre at University Ave. and Crawford Ave. that will be open about 18 hours a day or longer if needed. Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare returns to the Ouellette Ave. campus at Erie St. and the Tayfour Campus in west Windsor is also being redeveloped to include a new mental health wing.
von Ziegenweidt says she wants the plan to be a municipal election issue.
"We are talking about a significant infrastructure investment. We have a billion dollars in infrastructure deficit right now and instead of being able to address that we are talking about developing more land. This is absolutely an election issue," von Ziegenweidt says.