Eastview Lodge may soon be transformed

Neepawa's housing crisis may lessen in 2010
By Ken Waddell
The Neepawa Banner

The long awaited decision on the fate of Eastview Lodge may be coming soon.
Last spring when it was obvious that the Assiniboine Regional Health Authority would no longer be using Eastview Lodge there was a joint effort by the Town of Neepawa and a company named Adler Properties to turn the former care home into housing. Neepawa has a housing crisis, the ARHA no longer needed Eastview with the construction the new Country Meadows Personal Care home so it seemed like perfect fit. The RHA agreed, the town agreed and Adler properties had a plan in place to convert the former 120 room care home into about 60 small apartments. Those apartments, it's assumed, would soon be filled with workers, about 225 of them, who have immigrated to Canada to work at Hytek-Springhill hog processing plant.

The plan ground to a halt when the proposal hit the desk of Minister of Health Theresa Oswald. The government decided that in spite of the fact that the ARHA was running up a hefty bill every month for taxes, maintenance and utilities that a public bidding process should take place. Local MLA Stu Briese, who had lobbied Oswald for a quick decision said, "They have incurred about $180,000 extra cost and delayed the project by several months."
Briese said his fear is that workers are moving to Brandon to live due to the severity of the housing shortage in Neepawa and that once their two year commitment at Springhill is up they will find work in Brandon and not live or work in Neepawa.

As of the Nov. 27 deadline, there were no bids on the EVL property. That resulted in the ARHA board asking Minister Oswald to allow them to release the property to the Town of Neepawa. That request went in Dec. 17 to the minister's office according to ARHA VP of Finance Ted Bartlett. "We've asked the minister to allow us to a accept the Town of Neepawa's offer"

Town of Neepawa Mayor Bob Durston said, "Our council is still wiling to accept the property from the ARHA and then move forward on the offer from Adler properties. The dates will have to be changed as the old agreement has run out but if the company is still interested, we want to go ahead. That proposal is based on converting EVL to apartments. We hope to get apartments in place by the end of 2010."

Peter Thiessen who represents Adler Properties said "I think the government had to make the decision they made, it had to be an open process, transparent. They had to look after the greater good of the public interest ahead of just the Town of Neepawa's interest or a developer's interest."
Thiessen went on to say that "I believe very strongly in the Town of Neepawa as a growth centre, [it's] very well located with a mixture of private enterprise, good education structure and health care structure. I think this building will fit well in the community and the hog plant (Hytek-Springhill) is a viable company. We are planning to proceed with our contractors as soon as possible."

When that will be be is now again up to Minister Oswald, but no one yet is predicting how soon that decision will be made.