Proponents of Pacific Arbour Retirement Com-munities were amazed at the interest in their proposal during various information sessions held on the Coast this week.
"I have never, ever seen anywhere near the turnout that has been here in Sechelt," said Kate Mancer, a seniors' housing consultant from Lumina Services, at the Jan. 15 information meeting in Sechelt. "Yesterday, last night and this morning - it is completely unprecedented in my professional experience. "It's just been incredible, really."
About 40 people came to the morning meeting to give their input on Pacific Arbour's plan to build a retirement community on a one hectare piece of property they have an option to buy on Sechelt's waterfront next to Snickett Park.
"I'm here to listen. I'm here to understand the Sunshine Coast. I want to know what type of housing seniors want. Why they want it. I want to hear what's unique and what kind of unique services that you need up here so that we can tabulate a bunch of information and I can take it back to head office and we can make some decisions as to how to move forward," said Pacific Arbour's Karim Winsor. "I want to hear what you think is good and I want to hear what you think is bad so we can adjust what we're doing."
The company had no specific plans to show the community; instead they talked about potential levels of care that could be included in the retirement community and Lumina's market study of the area.
That study showed the make up of seniors on the Coast, their average age and current housing and estimated what an average senior who owns his or her own home could afford to pay to live in a retirement community. That figure came out to about $2,600 a month.
"Now, not everyone can afford $2,600 a month. There is a group of seniors who will never come anywhere near that number," Mancer said, adding other non-profit seniors housing establishments on the Coast could serve those lower income seniors. "That number is based on data that shows seniors living in Sechelt who are 75 and over who own their own home, when they sell that home, in theory, they could affordably spend $2,600 a month on a retirement package."
The estimate is similar to what is being paid for other private retirement communities in B.C., but Winsor noted the cost could be higher, depending on the number of bedrooms in a suite or types of services offered on site.
One option to keep monthly payments down is to sell the suites, rather than rent them, and Pacific Arbour will investigate the viability of having some rental and some owned suites if the community so desires.
Another area of concern was that of transportation to Vancouver for seniors who have specialist appointments or doctors to see in the city.
"That is probably the most important thing we've heard. We have to have transportation to Vancouver," Winsor said.
Those in attendance at Tuesday's meeting seemed on board with the plan to build a retirement community in Sechelt, and were thankful their input was being sought before any plans are finalized.
"How soon are you starting a waiting list?" one woman asked, while another in attendance asked, "How can we support this?"
Winsor encouraged those who want to support the plan to make their feelings known to Sechelt council.
"We are surprised. There is a lot of support for what we are doing and we're quite thrilled," Winsor noted.
All in attendance filled out questionnaires to better help Pacific Arbour see what seniors want in the proposed retirement community. Winsor expects to have that information compiled and ready to go over within a couple of months.
Once that is done, Pacific Arbour may engage the community again before bringing a plan to council and embarking on more public meetings.
Winsor expects the entire process of bringing a proposal to council, getting approval and actually building the retirement community to take two and a half to three years.
