Port Hardy council received a letter from the North Island Seniors Housing Foundation with a request for land, but the matter ended up being dealt with privately between the mayor and the foundation.
“The North Island Seniors Housing Foundation has been established to build a facility in Port Hardy to house seniors from the North Island in a supported-living environment,” reads the letter to council, which was written by the foundation’s treasurer Dan Foster. “By doing this, the directors of the foundation hope to provide housing for seniors with a level of supports not previously available on the North Island and reduce the number of people who are forced to leave their families and a part of the island they may have lived in for most or all of their lives to find the supports they require.”
Foster added the foundation is a registered society and they have applied for charitable status, “specifically as a public foundation. Initially we intended to build a facility with 25 units, a central dining facility and a new home for the Hardy Bay Seniors’ Centre. We would like to add 25 more units at a later date. There are a number of matters that need to be dealt with before this idea becomes reality. One of the most important tasks is to acquire a suitable site for the facility. To maximize the quality of the facility, we hope to keep our outlay for land to a minimum. We believe this project is very beneficial to Port Hardy and we hope that the district will agree to provide the foundation with a suitable piece of land.”
Council did nothing with regards to the request for land, because, according to Chief Administrative Officer Allison McCarrick, there “wasn’t a specific ask.”
She added Port Hardy Mayor Hank Bood spoke directly with Foster, “and through that conversation it was determined the letter was to give council a ‘heads up’ that this request would be coming. There were no areas of interest requested at this time. The foundation members will be coming to council with more information at a future date.”