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.
Jonathon Naylor Editor The NDP government has denied a funding application that could have brought Flin Flon two more seniors housing complexes and a new high-end neighbourhood. Bridge Road Developments, a Manitoba-based construction company, applied for a provincial grant to help build a 36-unit complex for seniors on fixed incomes. Approval of that project would have bolstered the feasibility of a separate 24-unit complex, open to wealthier seniors, that Bridge Road might have built on its own without government assistance. The buildings would have gone up on the tract of vacant land between Roche Boulevard and Wallace Avenue, overlooking Manitoba Avenue. With the City of Flin Flon having tentatively allocated $400,000 to service the property, council had plans to open a deluxe new subdivision on the same property. But as Mayor George Fontaine announced at last week's council meeting, none of it is in the cards now. 'The government has made their decisions. We are not one of the lucky recipients of the grants that are coming for affordable housing, so we will not be getting the subdivision at this point,' he said. No explanation 'The government didn't step into the Flin Flon market, they stepped into a few other markets. We haven't had an explanation as to why the proposal made by our proponents wasn't accepted, but we do know that we haven't been accepted.' Without confirmation on either of the seniors housing projects, Fontaine said the $400,000 allotted by council will likely be spent elsewhere 'unless we get some other news between now and spending time.' MLA Clarence Pettersen remained upbeat that a way would be found to bring new seniors housing to Flin Flon. 'All I can say is that we're never going to give up on that because seniors housing is so important for us,' said Pettersen, himself a Flin Flon resident. Pettersen said he hopes to either change the minds of those who made the decisions on the latest round of grants or find an alternate source of funding. See 'We...' on pg. 3 Continued from pg. 1 'I know Mayor Fontaine and his council have worked really hard on this issue,' he said. 'It's not (a case where) we're going to give up. We're just going to have to find another road.' But some question whether spending money to service new land with sewer and water lines makes any sense. 'With our dwindling population _ and I see it continuing to dwindle over the next several years _ increasing our infrastructure seems like the wrong direction to be heading,' concerned citizen Blair Sapergia told council last week. 'We need to start shrinking and (thinking) out of the box and making room where we've already got services as opposed to spreading our wings like this.' Fontaine did not dismiss Sapergia's point. 'We'll see, if we can get a project to go, whether the population will be in favour of us using services where they exist now,' he told Sapergia, 'because where services exist now are sometimes tied into what people are considering their green spaces, and they may or may not be willing to give up their green space even though it probably is easy.' Combat decline Coun. Karen Mac-Kinnon said the idea behind the seniors housing projects was to combat population decline by retaining more seniors and attracting those who have moved away, back to the city. 'We don't want our community to dwindle,' she said. The day after Coun. MacKinnon made that statement, the latest census data showed Flin Flon lost 244 residents between 2006 and 2011. But that figure could be somewhat deceptive given the number of people who continue to move to cottages outside Flin Flon and remain residents of the area. Flin Flon's dire need for more seniors housing has been apparent for years. As of late last year, Evergreen Manor, the 12-unit seniors complex near the Aqua Centre, was full with a waiting list of nearly 50 people.
