A 12-room seniors home to be built in Gasoline Alley has been approved by Red Deer County.
The facility would be built by Care Cottages on Legacy Road in the county’s Liberty Landing neighbourhood. The company also has the 15-bed Harmony Care Cottage in Red Deer and another is planned in south Edmonton.
It is expected construction will start on the two-storey Gasoline Alley project later this spring and the first tenants will be moving in a year from now. It will be a personal care home for seniors, who may have challenges such as incontinence or dementia but do not require medical care.
One letter of concern was received by the county. The author sought reassurance that the facility would remain a seniors care home and would not become a group home or similar facility in the future.
Among the conditions attached to the approval by the county’s municipal planning commission is a restrictive covenant that allows the site to be only for a seniors home.
To change the use, the developer would have to get the county’s approval to remove the covenant and change the use on the site.
Mayor Jim Wood welcomed a facility like the seniors home in the Gasoline Alley residential area.
“I look at it as a complete positive,” he said.
Coun. Connie Huelsman also said the home would be a good fit for the area and would allow seniors a place where they could enjoy the view of nearby stormwater ponds and be part of a neighbourhood with children playing nearby.
“I believe we should more of these (facilities) instead of less,” she added.
