Mennill calls for study of building a new Terrace Lodge

Malahide Mayor David Mennill, after listening to a crowd at Terrace Lodge demand putting emphasis on improving the living conditions at the long-term care home over building a new county administration building, publicly called for a fresh study of a new home over limited renovations to the existing one.

He’s one of three members of a county council building committee overseeing planning for the Terrace Lodge renovations. Others include Aylmer Mayor Jack Couckuyt and Warden David Marr, deputy mayor of Central Elgin.

Warden Marr, in a prepared speech at the beginning of the public hearing and in front of a standing-room only audience in a sweltering Terrace Lodge dining room, asserted that a 2006 architect’s estimate put the cost of a new Terrace Lodge at $33- to $37-million, which even if unchanged could result in a 10 percent county property tax levy increase.

But former Springfield Reeve and now tax activist Bill MacIntyre scoffed at that after learning that a new Elgin Manor, a similar facility, had been built in 2003 for $12-million.

He called for getting a new cost estimate for replacement of the home.