Moncton Approves Proposed 46-Unit Senior Care Home In North End
MONCTON – City Council unanimously approved a planned 46-unit senior care home on 599 Ryan Street at a public hearing Monday. The development will be located in Moncton’s rapidly growing north end.
This was the last stage after the proposal passed the first reading and written reviews from the Planning Advisory Committee.
The application was made by Sean Doucet, a representative of property owner Serenity Senior Living. The request sought a rezoning of a two-unit dwelling area into a community use area.
Serenity Senior Living also owns and operates the Briarlea, an assisted care facility on 75 Briarlea Drive.
Charlene Johnson, the operations manager of the facility, said the new home on Ryan Street will fill a gap in services for seniors. The Briarlea was recently licensed to provide care for people who are aging with physical frailty.
“It has the same concept [as the Briarlea] – assisted living apartments for seniors that are progressing with their peer services,” she said. “They’re not fully independent but they can live in their homes by themselves. They start with the early stages of ageing when they need some assistance with their daily tasks of living.”
Both homes will provide progressive care, which allows seniors to move from their assisted-living apartments and move to higher levels of care as needed. This allows them to stay at the home until the end of life. But Serenity Senior Living aims to keep the home cozy.
“It’s definitely being able to offer that home-like setting. We don’t want to build these grand hotels. We want to offer in the community something that still feels small, cozy, and home-like,” Johnson told the council.
The development will include a building that’s two storeys high and spans 34,445 square feet. There will be 36 rooms on the first floor, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen and three sunrooms. Ten independent living apartments and some offices on the second floor.
The planned facility will also have a hair salon for residents, and a parking lot with 26 spaces and four barrier-free spots. The owner plans to remove a single-unit dwelling that’s currently on the site.
Councillor Greg Turner said the service will be a positive addition to the area.
“We’re seeing a lot of growth in this neighbourhood, obviously with schools and daycares and facilities for young families,” he said, “At the same time as people age, they’d rather not move away from the neighbourhood they’re comfortable in, that they grew up in,” he said.
The city didn’t put a time frame for the development, but the property owner aims to “get started right away,” said Director of Urban Planning Bill Budd when he presented the project to council last month.
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