The Ontario Ministry of Long-Term Care is reviewing a proposal for issuing a Long-Term Care licence for St. Rita at Mary Lake, a 160-bed Long-Term Care (LTC) facility proposed to be developed north of King City, Ontario, where there are no municipal services (water and sewage pipes) for good reason. The site is on the Moraine between a kettle lake and designated wetlands.

It’s well recognized that there is a huge need for more long-term care beds in York Region and across the Province.  But Long-Term Care facilities should not be implemented by riding roughshod over the laws enacted to protect the environment!  It is very important that new LTC facilities and housing for seniors be in accessible community hubs located within the boundaries of towns and cities where there are community amenities and services easily accessible by transit or walking.  Mary Lake is the wrong place for a LTC facility!

The proposed massive St. Rita - Mary Lake LTC facility would be located on the Oak Ridges Moraine outside the urban boundary of King City.  The site is a very environmentally significant area on the Oak Ridges Moraine and needs to be protected from further degradation.  The proposed development is located within the Provincially Significant Eaton Hall - Mary - Hackett Lakes Wetland Complex.  An OMNR report states, its 225 wetlands comprise one of the largest and most diverse wetland complexes on the Oak Ridges Moraine, noteworthy for its high concentration of significant plants, animals and kettle lakes.  Its small spring-flooded wetlands serve as important amphibian breeding ponds and sustain many of the thicket swamp and marsh types in the complex.  These wetlands also provide spring flows to the East Humber and serve as recharge areas into the aquifers on the Oak Ridges Moraine. (OMNR – Aurora District, 1999).  Mary Lake is the wrong place for a LTC facility!

The proposed location of the St. Rita - Mary Lake LTC facility is within an area of the Oak Ridges Moraine protected under the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan (ORMCP).  Experts knowledgeable about the ORMCP say that this development will subvert the over 20 years of policies and protections of the ORMCP in at least three areas:  1) Permitted Land Uses in Countryside Areas; 2) Scale and Size of the development; and 3) Existing Use. The significant risk here is that this LTC facility development would set a dangerous precedent for further commercial development on the Moraine.  "Death by a thousand cuts”.  Mary Lake is the wrong place for a LTC facility!

ONE MORE STEP...  Here is the link for the Ministry of Long-Term Care public consultation:  #13 St. Rita - Mary Lake LTC Home - King City — Project #24-007.  http://www.ontario.ca/page/ontarios-long-term-care-licensing-public-consultation-registry

Please say NO to this development!  Comments must be submitted by June 9th.  Share your feedback by email at LTCHomes.Licensing@hkstrategies.ca  

We appreciate your support.  Thank You!

Concerned Citizens of King Township

Kingscross Ratepayers Association

Save the Oak Ridges Moraine Coalition