The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Discussions are underway for a new uptown facility that would bring together various health care services provided by the NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority. Community services such as Public Health, Mental Health, Health Promotion, and the Community Nurse Resource Centre would move into the building, which has a target opening date of November. "We want to have all our primary programs under one roof," said health authority spokesperson Corliss Patterson. "We felt the downtown area was central to the services we provide." The health authority has hired a local developer who is now in talks with the City about buying some 10,000 sq. ft. of land at the northwest portion of the Flin Flon Community Hall parking lot, near the site where the last Company apartments once stood. That would eat up less than half of the roughly 24,000 sq. ft. parking lot. If the negotiations succeed, the developer would erect a building for the health authority to rent. To make up for the lost parking near the community hall, the City has had informal discussions about utilizing the vacant HBMS property north of the hall. Also being considered is additional parking space on North Avenue across the Perimeter Highway. "When the smoke clears, we would see more parking for the community hall," said Flin Flon Municipal Administrator Larry Fancy. Fancy said he doesn't expect there will be opposition to the potential development because city council is committed to ensuring there is adequate parking for the hall. Council publicly outlined the negotiations for the first time at their regular meeting Tuesday, saying that nothing has been finalized. Councillor Dave Law, sitting as mayor in Dennis Ballard's absence, said the City was initially approached about selling the entire parking lot but was unwilling. A sale would not require that council rezone the land because the parking lot is still zoned commercially from the days when the Jubilee Hall stood there. Fancy said the City expects to meet with the developer in the near future to further discuss the situation.
