The Editor,
The suggestion that Eagle Ridge Hospital expansion is dependent on the sale of ERH land may be premature right now. The hospital executive director said there is “significant land available” for the future needs of ERH even after selling off two huge parcels for development.
The May 2012 publication off a Fraser Health concept master plan for development of the ERH site to 2030 does not support this view. The 2012 plan proposed the whole ERH site be developed, including new low-rise buildings, all devoted to health care, plus additions to each end of the existing hospital — no plans for a 12-storey tower, no 22-storey tower, no 26-storey tower, and certainly no sale of land in the cards.
The further suggestion that “any future hospital expansion… would likely be in towers” raises questions related to expanding the existing hospital. It was emphatically stated, in the 2012 plan, that “vertical expansion… [of the hospital] is not recommended.” Limited capacity of the existing structure to accept additional load was cited and an engineering report warned the building might require a full seismic upgrade.
Again, literally no support for towers to expand the hospital.
It would be prudent to review and update the May 2012 plans to confirm the whole of this site is needed to serve an aging and expanding population. When that is done, and only then, could the sale of the two development parcels be confirmed as an undeniably necessary part of an ERH development package directly linked to hospital expansion, an assertion not readily defensible today.
John Bradley, Port Moody
