The following letter was sent to those who expressed interest in living at Sauble Sunsets, a seniors development planned for site of the former amusement park at Sauble Beach. It is our understanding that a "Plan B" proposal is to be announced, possibly as soon as later this week.
"To all of the people on our waiting list that expressed interest in living in a Seniors oriented location at Sauble Beach.This update is to inform you of the latest developments for the Sauble Sunsets Retirement Community.
This project started five years ago. We were challenged to investigate the need for senior housing options at Sauble Beach. Because we have extensive national experience in building and operating retirement residences and adjacent townhomes,we investigated the demographic need for Seniors Housing at Sauble Beach.The results pointed to a large and growing need for local seniors housing.
We chose the site at the old amusement park partly because of its amazing location and services that are within walking distance.With a lot of encouragement from the Town of South Bruce Peninsula, we formed a company to purchase and develop the site. ...The site needed a rezoning approval and, because of the intensive need for water and sewage, the site needed town water, as well as a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant.
The requirements for a project like ours are normally provided by the municipality, however the municipality was not able to provide the services needed. We went forward, using the services of Tatham Engineering in Collingwood, to develop a private system, which would be affordable for those living at Sauble Sunsets.Our original budget was completed in 2019.
Since then the world has changed. We have experienced gross inflationary pressures, and especially for the cost of housing.Over the last several years, the value of housing has kept up with inflationary pressures. As costs escalated, our expected revenues climbed. Although we weren’t happy that our prices had to increase we took comfort in the fact that we were still providing value for the intended price.
During this time, we obtained the many approvals – using reports and studies obtained to support land use which would be approved by the Conservation Authority, the Town of South Bruce Peninsula, Bruce County – and most importantly, the Ministry of the Environment Conservation and Parks. (“MOECP”). The last approval was obtained from MOECP only late last year.
The town had to agree to support the plant financially if there was ever a failure in the treatment facility to protect future homeowners. The Town has been very supportive, and I am thankful to them for all of their support. Unfortunately, we found that when we applied all of the requirements to provide the infrastructure investment for water, roads, services, storm water and wastewater treatment, our tender to commence construction came back with prices that were not tenable.
From our original budget for civil work of just over $2,000,000 in early 2020, the budget has ballooned to over $5,000,000. Together with other building cost increases,we cannot build homes that can be sold for a price that would recover our costs and be priced accordingly with today’s current market values.
To say we are disappointed is an understatement. We have spent 5 years working on this project which would mean a great deal to the Town and especially seniors who want to remain in the town.Since finding out about the final price for construction, we are reluctantly cancelling the project in its current form. We have been working with our architect to find somealternative use for the land which will provide some housing and potentially some senior housing which is affordable. We will provide additional information regarding the alternative plans as soon as we have some more details.
Donna Harb Royal LePage Estate Realty "
