People near Charlotte Eleanor Englehart Hospital may soon have a better idea how a health care village will affect their homes.
About eight homeowners will meet with officials from the Town of Petrolia Monday.
The Town of Petrolia and Bluewater Health are working on the Health Community Master Plan. Bluewater Health plans to reconfigure the interior of Charlotte Eleanor Englehart Hospital.
The town is working with the same consultants to improve the community for seniors in the future.
The concept was originally introduced as a Health Care Hub with the town encouraging private developers to build seniors’ housing – everything from condos to assisted living – near the hospital.
When the town and Bluewater Health introduced the concept to the community, homeowners on Glenview Drive and Dufferin Street became concerned.
They found their homes marked as ‘improved frontage opportunities’ and they began to wonder what that would mean.
Dave Chidley and his neighbours understood the concept of the health community master plan and see the value of housing for seniors near the hospital, but neither the town nor Bluewater Health had directly contacted them.
The town and Bluewater Health will present some ideas for a Community Health Master plan at a June 6 meeting.    Town officials have said the idea of housing in the area is not written in stone.
The homeowners contacted The Independent to voice their concerns saying they would like to know what the future holds for their properties. The day the article appeared on the streets, the homeowners received a letter from the town’s CAO, Manny Baron, inviting them to a meeting the day before Tuesday’s public meeting.
“In no way would we ever wish to cause undue stress or concern to our residents over this plan,” wrote Baron in the letter which was hand delivered to each homeowner and included an invitation to the June 6 public meeting.
Baron invited the group to meet with himself and Councillor Mary Pat Gleeson – who is council’s point person on the project – Monday at 6 pm to “allay any concerns you might have regarding your homes and properties.”
Chidley says the neighbours will all attend, but some, he says, are “skeptical.
“We’ll go and see what they have to say,” Chidley says. “Hopefully, they’ll give us some information because we still have no information about our homes as improved frontage opportunities.
“Improved frontage opportunities gives us great skepticism that there is more to this than the long-term, 20 or 30 year plans.”