The Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association is coming out against the proposed location for a new acute care hospital.
The plan is to build the new mega-hospital on a piece of land at County Rd. 42 and the 9th Concession, not far from Windsor Airport.
CAMPP, Citizens for an Accountable Mega-Hospital Planning Process, is appealing city council's decision to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal. The group has launched a GoFundMe page to raise $100,000 to cover legal costs and, so far, $28,000 has been raised.
On Thursday, the Downtown Windsor BIA announced a $5,000 donation to the fund.
Chair Brian Yeomans says the loss of a hospital on Ouellette Ave. will have grave consequences for the heart of the city, impacting future growth, downtown residents and businesses.
He also believes if the hospital leaves the downtown core, it will impact other medical offices.
"Why do you think the labs, specialists and clinics opened across from a hospital? So if you move the hospital, what do you think is going to happen to those specialists, labs and clinics? It's obvious," says Yeomans. "So we are very concerned of that."
AM800 file photo of the proposed location for the new hospital at County Rd 42 and the 9th Concession.
Both the city and municipalities across Essex County are contributing funding to pay for the new hospital to serve the region.
Yeomans is against the argument that the proposed hospital is meant as a regional hospital.
"We have a regional hospital here {Ouellette Ave.} and Met Campus but they are both regional hospitals. We serve the entire region," he says . "Where it's located downtown does not mean that is it not servicing the region."
Windsor resident Frank O'Reilly has announced he will match contributions to the GoFundMe page, dollar for dollar, for donations of $5000 or less.