Tavistock

Tavistock Project

Vision Statement

The Tri-County Mennonite Homes’ (TCMH) vision for the Tavistock Project is to create an intimate community in the heart of Tavistock that offers a continuum of care for seniors and space for various community services. This continuum will exist in a holistic environment that addresses the spiritual, physical and social needs of the community.

The Plan

TCMH has purchased a 46 acre site in downtown Tavistock on which it is committed to build a continuum of care for seniors. Included in the continuum of care will be:

• a 96 bed long-term care (LTC) home to replace the Bonnie Brae 80 bed home
• up to 25 life lease garden homes
• up to 30 assisted/supported/independent living suites

In total, the continuum of care could house up to 180 people.

TCMH is partnering with the Oxford County Library, YMCA and VON to provide space for the new Tavistock library, a YMCA child daycare centre, and community space for the VON to provide programming for seniors in the community.

While the ideal situation might be to build the continuum of care in its entirety, it is more likely that it will be built in phases.

• The first phase is certain to include building the 96 bed LTC home, a portion of the common area space, the library, and the YMCA child daycare.
• Phase two could include some life lease garden homes, and assisted/supported living suites.
• Phase three could include more life lease garden homes and assisted/supported living suites.

Affordability is the key to all phases of this project. The ability of TCMH to raise adequate equity, secure appropriate loans, and operate profitably are critical elements of this project. While TCMH does not want to compromise building quality, it will consider all opportunities to provide cost effective building alternatives in order to make this project a reality. Therefore, it is imperative that all project consultants employ value engineering methodology in their planning and execution of work.

The TCMH Board is committed to working together with its consultants, volunteers, staff, project partners, and the community to make every attempt to bring its vision to reality in Tavistock.

TCMH Board Ad Hoc Committee for the Tavistock Project

Report

Actions to Date

• Signed purchase agreement – April 2003
• MOHLTC public meeting – November 2003
• Land purchased conditionally – December 2003
• Eleven community presentations – March 2004 to December 2004
• Fundraising Committee formed – May 2005
• Preliminary proposals from project financing institutions – May 2005
• Developed and fine-tuned capital and operating budgets – May 2005 to present
• Hired a planner – July 2005
• Redevelopment agreement signed – July 2005
• Approval from MOHLTC to employ project management – July 2005
• Hired consulting gerontologist – July 2005
• Submitted zoning and official plan amendment applications – August 2005
• Feasibility study commissioned – September 2005
• Hired project architect – September 2005
• Community Partners invited to join project – September 2005
• Excess TCMH land sold to help fund the project – October 2005
• Tours to long-term care homes – October 2005
• Finalized functional programming and space tables – February 2006
• Tavistock land purchase finalized – March 2006
• Tavistock Community Meeting to test site plan – April 2006
• Site plan and initial project costing completed – May 2006
• TCMH Board forms Ad Hoc Committee to deal with project – June 2006
• Meetings held with key stakeholders to discuss future of project – June 2006
• Design Team meets to lay out a plan to complete the preliminary design phase – July 2006

On May 10, 2006, the architect presented several preliminary drawings and the cost consultant’s pricing for those options to the Project Design Team. That information was then presented to the Board at their regularly scheduled meeting on May 17. Due to time constraints, the Board decided to call a Special Board Meeting for June 6 to discuss the Tavistock project and the areas of concern.

All Board members were in attendance at the June 6th Special Board Meeting where Bob Davies (Montgomery Sisam) and Gerry McCabe of CM2R (Curram, McCabe, Ravindran, Ross) provided a report identifying two areas where costs were substantially higher than what was originally budgeted. (The Consulting Gerontologist and Construction Manager attended the meeting as well.)

The first area of concern was the cost of construction. All of our consultants agreed that construction costs have increased substantially this year and will go higher in the future. Their construction pricing allowed for a construction launch in 2007.

The second area of concern was site servicing. Because of where the buildings might likely be located on the site, McCabe estimated site servicing costs to be $2 million, in addition to the construction costs. The TCMH capital budget included site servicing in the construction costs. In total, the preliminary project cost was over $3 million higher than what our capital and operating budgets allowed.

Further discussion of the findings of the report indicated that the identified spaces for the building were not extravagant and that no more than 10% could be cut from the cost of construction. It was also revealed that cutting square footage would not decrease site servicing costs. After extensive discussion, the Board met privately to discuss their options and next steps.

Robert Veitch, Executive Director of TCMH, made it clear that the project could not move forward with these additional costs. He presented to the Board, for their consideration, the following two options:

• End the project, sell the land, cancel the contracts and agreements, and move on.
• Continue on but from the perspective that we need to find more equity or find more savings on the project so that it becomes affordable.
• This option must be considered with minimal additional expenditures and obviously with the endorsement of the MOHLTC and the owners of Bonnie Brae.
• TCMH does not have cash available to spend much more money on this project at this time.
• It was recognized that any decision is conditional on the key stakeholders agreeing to work with us.

The Board decided to pursue the second option approving the following motion to move forward.

“That the TCMH Board organize an ad hoc committee to find additional sources of equity, at no additional cost to TCMC, to chart a course to communicate with the stakeholders and to bring a recommendation to the Board in December 2006.”

On June 14, the Ad Hoc Committee met to develop a communication strategy and action plan to move forward. The following is the outline of their communication strategy and preliminary action plan.

Communication Strategy

Immediate (highest priority)

• Arrange separate meetings with the owners of Bonnie Brae and the MOHLTC
• Meet with the project partners
• Report to the TCMH Board the results of the above meetings

Immediate (high priority)

• Meet with committee volunteers
• Meet with Bonnie Brae senior management
• Meet with Oxford County and East Zorra Tavistock Township councils
• Make an announcement to the Bonnie Brae staff, residents and families
• Make a public announcement regarding the status of the project
• Deal with issues that could arise from the announcement
• Report to the TCMH Board the results of the above meetings

Mid Term

• Continue to appraise key stakeholders of the Ad Hoc Committee’s progress
• Continue to appraise the TCMH Board of the Ad Hoc Committee’s progress

Long Term

• Bring a recommendation about the project’s viability to the Board no later than December 2006
• Announce to the key stakeholders the decision of the Board regarding the Tavistock Project
• Announce to the Community the decision of the Board regarding the Tavistock Project

Preliminary Action Plan

• Implement the communication plan
• Reduce square footage where possible
• Have discussions with the construction manager and architect regarding cost cutting
• Have the Design Team work at possible solutions to the dilemma
• Work together with the Fundraising Committee to pursue all possible Provincial and Municipal funding opportunities
• Discuss with the Bonnie Brae owners possible financial concessions
• Consider selling excess land from the Tavistock parcel
• Work together with the Fundraising Committee to raise the original $1.5 million
• Continue with our application to the Rural Economic Development (RED) grant program
• Fine tune capital and operating budgets

Subsequent to the June 14 meeting, members of the Ad Hoc Committee met with Kevin Grossi from the MOHLTC on June 16. Within a week of that meeting TCMH received a letter from David Clarke granting TCMH a one year extension to the December 2007 deadline. The Committee met with the Bonnie Brae owners’ representative, Robert Yoanidis on June 19 and were pleased to receive full support from the ownership group. On June 20 the Committee met with the Project Partners who all could sympathize with our dilemma since they are all involved in other building projects. The YMCA is eager to get the project going since they are counting on funding that may not be available in the future. The Library is in the midst of a project and would prefer to wait until next year.

On July 13 the Design Team met to discuss the dilemma and determine their next steps in response to the Board motion and Ad Hoc Committee request. The Design Team indicated that it makes good sense to complete the preliminary design stage to more accurately determine the cost of the project and what can be cut from or added to the project to make it more viable. The cost to complete the preliminary design phase will be approximately $50,000.

Having already spent $1 million on this project, the Board, at a meeting on July 20, determined that it was prudent to spend another $50,000 to more accurately determine the project’s viability.

After receiving approval to proceed, the Design Team has laid out a plan to finalize the preliminary design phase and present a report to the Ad Hoc Committee early in November.

ACTION PLAN:

Review Operating Perimeters – Bessant Pelech – Aug., Sep. & Oct. (and into Nov.)

Revise Space Tables – Bessant Pelech – Aug., Sep. & Oct.

Site Service Analysis – Montgomery Sisam – Sep. & Oct,

Grade Analysis – Montgomery Sisam – Sep. & Oct.

Development Options – Bessant Pelech, Montgomery Sisam – Sep., Oct. & Nov.

2 storey vs. 3 storey option – Montgomery Sisam, Van-Del – Sep., Oct. & Nov.

Costing – Van-Del – Oct. & Nov.

RHA / Assisted Living  Plan Review – Montgomery Sisam, Van-Del

Site Planning – Montgomery Sisam, Van-Del

Meeting with Authorities – (MOE, MOH, Municipal) – Montgomery Sisam

Meetings with Ad Hoc Committee – mid Sep., end of Oct., end of Nov.

Financial Feasibilities – TCMH – Aug. and on-going

CONSULTANTS DELIVERABLES: (from the Action Plan)

• All floor plans (schematic drawings) – MOH Submissions

• Preliminary Project Specifications

• Elevations

• Site plan – location of the building to be priced

• Costs associated with the project

• Consultants reports (Operational budget)