Trent’s vision is for a University-Integrated Seniors Village anchored by a long-term care home. Building on Trent’s position as a globally recognized age-friendly university and leading research expertise in the Trent Centre for Aging & Society and the Trent/Fleming School of Nursing, the Seniors Village will provide hands-on learning opportunities for our students and advance research into aging, while meeting the needs of our community for more seniors housing. 

peopleCare Communities has been selected to build a 224-bed not-for-profit long-term care home, collaborating with Trent on research and teaching to develop and implement promising practices in long-term care to enhance the quality of life and care for seniors, and influence care practices throughout the sector. It will interest students in geriatric care, offer a proving ground for innovations in seniors living, and will help reduce the long wait list for aged care in Peterborough – the third oldest community in Canada – where almost 2,500 people are waiting two to four years for a bed. 

The location for the Seniors Village is the north-west corner of Water Street and Woodland Drive. This site was selected for a variety of reasons:    

• Access to the campus: Close proximity to the Symons campus, will allow students and future residents to access the amenities on the site and on the main campus, to enable a thriving multi-generational community for living and learning. 
• Access to the community: The site is along Water St, a major roadway, and is serviced by City of Peterborough transit and the new County bus route that connects this site to Selwyn Township and Curve Lake.  
• Access to servicing: Municipal services, such as power, water and sanitation, are already available at this site enabling the long-term care home to move ahead and bring new beds to the community as quickly as possible. 
• Access to nature: The long-term care home and Seniors Village will be surrounded by nature with trails and spaces to gather outside, for residents, the campus, and local community.  

Community engagement: Review the draft site plan

Opportunities for community engagement will occur at many points throughout the process of bringing this vision to life. As a starting point, the draft Stage 1 Site Plan, proposing the development limits for the long-term care home and Seniors Village, and the studies that support this recommendation are open for community review until Sunday, May 30, 2021. The Stage 1 Site Plan will be submitted to the City of Peterborough in early June. Review the draft Site Plan and supporting reports online: trentu.ca/seniorsvillage.  

As laid out in the Trent Lands and Nature Areas Plan, this process began with a study of the environment, to better understand the land where the Village is to be located. Building on the information, input and studies conducted during the Trent Lands & Nature Areas Plan, detailed four season environmental studies based on western science and Indigenous Traditional Knowledge, and an archaeology survey, have been completed. This work identified two locations suitable for the Seniors Village and long-term care home. In total, more than two thirds of the site will remain natural and undeveloped.