This article was first published by NewmarketToday, a Village Media publication.
Southlake Health is considering eight possible locations in East Gwillimbury, Georgina and Bradford West Gwillimbury that could be the home of its second hospital site.
The hospital is undertaking a search process to find a site for a new second facility, while it will continue to operate the existing overcrowded site in Newmarket. Southlake put out a call for land suitable for a large community hospital several months ago. The organization announced April 7 that eight proponents had met the mandatory criteria for the first stage of the process with a March 14 deadline, and would be proceeding to provide more detailed submissions for further evaluation.
“Southlake wishes to thank its communities for their unwavering support. Landowners, philanthropists, elected representatives and officials have all rallied around their hospital to support an ambitious vision to transform Southlake into a two-site hospital system operating within a distributed health network,” the health organization said in a news release.
Southlake Health is seeking a new hospital site to address overcrowding and space issues at the current site, as a result of population growth in the area. The hospital is also trying to provide more health care beyond its hospital walls in the communities it serves.
But plans to build a new hospital have been held up at the site selection process. A site in Greenbelt lands in King just west of Newmarket made some progress in 2023, but the province axed those plans when it changed course on opening up some Greenbelt lands for development. King council hoped last year the site might still be possible, but Southlake did not indicate any sites in King are on its list of consideration.
One of the possible sites could be in East Gwillimbury, with that council endorsing a location northwest of Leslie Street and Queensville Sideroad last month.
Southlake Health would not disclose more details about which sites are under consideration for the process.
“We look forward to sharing more information in the spring following the conclusion of this commercially sensitive process,” Southlake said.
The site announcement is expected sometime this spring.
