A seniors’ apartment and assisted-living development proposal has drawn heat from nearby residents who believe the complex will be too big, too noisy and bring too much traffic to the neighbourhood.

The plan, which is proposed by Micor Mississauga Land Corp., would build two six-storey buildings including a seniors’ complex with 166 apartments, 156 assisted-living suites and 26 convent units for the Carmelite Sisters, who own the roughly 11-acre site at 1720 Sherwood Forrest Circle.

Harry Henderson, who chairs the Sherwood Forrest Residents Association’s Carmel Heights redevelopment committee, said the community is not opposed to a seniors’ residence development similar to what is already on the grounds, a three-storey structure and convent.

But he said the size of the proposed development is “inconsistent with the neighbourhood,” and the existing community around the proposed site is worried about the amount of traffic and noise the project could bring.

Henderson also said he’s worried that the non-assisted-living apartments might not end up being occupied by seniors.

“We’re just concerned that it’s very close to the University of Toronto (Mississauga) campus and we suspect that it could become dominated by students.”

As proposed, there would be around 260 total parking spots, with 75 above ground, for the nearly 350-unit development. Included in the proposal are 35 “memory care suites” that would be geared for residents with forms of Alzheimer’s.

The Carmelite Sisters of Canada bought the site in 1952. The sisters, who are part of an international Roman Catholic religious congregation dating back to 1891, previously operated a seniors’ residence on the grounds that closed in 2015.

Michael Corrado, of Micor Mississauga Land Corp., said the proposal has tried to accommodate the neighbourhood’s wishes, but to make seniors’ housing financially feasible, a minimum density is required.

“Nowadays, to build a retirement home and make it efficient and functional, you need at least 150-170 suites to make it work, to make it feasible financially because they’re very expensive to build and operate,” he said.

Ward 8 Coun. Matt Mahoney wants to see a version of the proposal with fewer units and less probable traffic.

He said if the developer insists on the current size, “they’re going to have to walk away.”

“Everybody wants to come in and build the maximum, and get the maximum value — we’ll call it profit — out of a situation,” he said. “So to suggest that the numbers don’t work unless it’s that scale, personally I find that hard to believe.”

A joint federal, provincial and territorial government report in June 2019 found increased supply of housing for seniors was needed overall, with options considering a range of health needs and incomes. The report called for strategies to “encourage and promote production of more diverse and affordable housing options” for seniors.

According to numbers from the 2016 census, 101,780 people, or around 14 per cent of Mississauga’s population, is 65 years old or older. Around 26 per cent of Mississauga’s population, or 155,845 people, was recorded as between 50-64 years old in the 2016 census.

That puts over a third of Mississauga residents at 50 or older.

At a tense Dec. 4 public meeting about the proposal, Corrado and others working with the Carmelite Sisters were peppered with questions and concerns about the project. While some of the nearly 500 people who attended the meeting spoke in support of the proposal, many of the speakers had pointed remarks for the plan.

Corrado has had a hand in building several seniors’ homes in Ontario and said retirement homes have been “welcomed” into most neighbourhoods.

He said he and the sisters have been “flabbergasted” by the reaction of Sherwood Forrest residents at the meeting.

“I was genuinely surprised how nasty and venomous people were for an upscale, upper-middle-class neighbourhood like that,” he said.

The development is seeking amendments to the city’s official plan to allow for more residential density, as well as a zoning change to permit six-storey buildings. The proposal is also seeking zoning changes to allow for fewer parking spaces, and reductions in space between the site’s driveways and the nearby residential zone.

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A currently inactive roadway behind homes on Sherwood Forrest Circle would be reopened to allow access from Dundas Street West in the proposed development.

Mississauga’s official plan has identified Dundas Street as a transit and intensification corridor and access to the street could be an important factor in determining the scale of the development.

The city’s Dundas Connects plan said lands within 300 metres of the corridor “have potential for higher-density, mixed-use development” to match planned transit and cycling infrastructure coming to the area.

Steve Cornwell is a City Hall reporter for the Mississauga News. Email: scornwell@metroland.com

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