Arnprior Hospital ‘surprised and disappointed’ land was sold

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Arnprior Regional Health said it was in promising discussions to buy a six-hectare parcel it needed to build a new hospital, but was “disappointed and surprised’ when that land was sold to a developer instead.

The plan was to buy the parcel of land behind the existing Arnprior and District Memorial Hospital to build a new hospital and redevelop the existing hospital, which first opened in 1945, board chair Oliver Jacob said Friday.

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Arnprior Regional Health entered into negotiations to buy the land from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in November and submitted an offer in writing last March, but learned in July that the land had been sold to Cavanagh Communities, Jacob said.

Arnprior Regional Health’s version of events will likely add fuel to controversy over the sale of the property, which has sparked a community drive to “Save the Grove again.” The reference is to Gillies Grove, a parcel of old growth pine forest behind the property that was sold.

Some of the massive trees in the Grove date back to the Ottawa Valley’s lumbering era, part of the land that lumber baron Daniel McLachlin purchased in 1851 to be the base of his empire. McLachlin’s land was divided and the Grove was later sold to rival David Gillies. The Gillies land was acquired by the English Oblates of Eastern Canada in 1986.

In the 1990s, there was a previous battle to protect the Grove and its towering pines from housing development. Almost $500,000 was raised, much of that by the community.

In 2001, the Nature Conservancy of Canada completed the purchase. The adjacent land, including the Galilee Mission Centre, an open field, some forested area and frontage on the Ottawa River remained in the hands of the Oblates.

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Gillies Grove can’t be sold and is legally protected from building development. In September 2023, the Oblates announced they were closing the Galilee Mission Centre, a retreat, and planned to sell some of the land.

Oliver said Arnprior Regional Health authorized negotiations to buy a six-hectare portion of that land in November and worked with legal counsel, the board at Galilee and the town of Arnprior “to assess the feasibility of the acquisition.” After months of discussion, Arnprior Regional Health submitted a written offer in March, based on the midpoint of two independent market appraisals, he said.

After that, Arnprior Regional Health received limited communication from the board of Galilee, and it learned in July that the land has been sold to Cavanagh Communities, Jacob said.

In a statement, Galilee said many conversations were held with major stakeholders in Arnprior between September and March, including discussions with the hospital.

“None of the conversations resulted in either land purchase agreements or financial donations that would result in Galilee Centre being able to continue its operations,” the statement said.

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“Only after all these conversations were exhausted did the board of Galilee Centre decide to reach out to developers in March 2024. Cavanagh Communities was the successful purchaser.”

Jacob takes issue with the Galilee statement.

“We had been working with the Galilee board for a number of months. We expected more communication and to a response to our offer,” he said.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada has also disputed the Galilee statement.

Spokesperson Brianne Curry said last week that the Nature Conservancy submitted a letter of interest to the Oblates, but no amount of land or money was mentioned. There was no response, she said.

“If there was that opportunity to do a land purchase, we would have considered it,” Curry said. “There was no dialogue.”

Jacob said he had been fielding questions about why the hospital did not buy the land, and that was why he decided to make a statement.

“We wanted to make sure all members of the public were aware of what happened.”

Meanwhile, Arnprior Regional Health is considering other parcels of land to build a new hospital. The original plan was to repurpose the existing hospital and open a larger new hospital with primary care space to help to recruit physicians to the growing town.

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“We are open to whatever happens,” Jacob said. “We’re focused on providing quality care.”

Cavanagh Communities senior vice-president Pierre Dufresne said last week he couldn’t comment because the agreement was still in the due-diligence stage.

That had been scheduled to end Sept. 16, but was extended.

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