Senior’s Coffee Clutch Focussed Discussion
A series of seniors focussed discussions were held on 25 April. A number of questions were posed to those attending. Below is a sampling of the results of the small group discussions.

Question 1: What types of housing is (sic) needed in Fall River to meet senior citizen’s needs?
Single detached one storey homes of 1000 - 1200 square feet grouped in a open space concept cul de sac, a townhouse cluster of up to 20 or 30 units built around a common area/courtyard and garden suites were the preferred styles. All units should be capable of supporting the requirements for independent living, assisted living and extended care life styles.

Question 2: Where are the ideal locations for these various types of houses?
Several viable locations, both private and public property, were identified. As HRM is not in the business of providing seniors housing, private enterprise and the province of Nova Scotia will have to take the initiative on this matter. HRM might promote this sort of development by providing infrastructure and introducing user friendly land use regulations.

Question 3: What types of amenities/services would you like to have (re: commercial, municipal, transit, pedestrian, recreation) in Fall River?
The area should be serviced with water, sewer, sidewalks, street lighting and a regular, reliable, useable inter community transit system. The building of a library, cinema and/or a public gathering place should be encouraged. It was considered imperative that a pharmacy and medical offices be within walking distance of any housing initiative developed for seniors. A view of the lakes would be nice.

Question 4: What does a safe community mean to you?
The majority of the respondents kept to a theme of security with a call for more police presence, more often and more involved. Use of cameras, intercom systems, security patrols, controlled access and management staff in appropriate locations was encouraged. Better use of the schools for extracurricular activity and a requirement for more facilities and gathering places for young and old alike was a recurrent theme.

During the latter part of the “Clutch” the attendees were broken into two large groups to discuss further topics.

Question 5: If you could paint a picture of how Fall River will meet the needs of senior’s in the future, what would it look like?
Both groups listed a number of common items. These were:
Water view       (This will be dependent on site selection by developers)
Green space     (A common requirement in all visioning discussions to date)
Accessible friendly walking trails

                         (A common requirement in all visioning discussions to date)
Swimming pool (A common requirement in all visioning discussions to date)
Transit              (A common requirement in all visioning discussions to date)
Rink - skating    (A common requirement in all visioning discussions to date)
Good lighting
Common meeting places (A common requirement in all visioning discussions to date)
Library             (A common requirement in all visioning discussions to date)
Book mobile     (Halifax regional Library does this at Sobeys Mall)
Museum/building for our history (Possibly Snow Center or old blacksmith shop on Highway # 2)
Bowling Alley

And a couple of extras:
Clean water     (A common requirement in all visioning discussions to date)
Local security (Policing)
Recreation Centre (The Snow Center [new recreation center]is in the design stages.

Question 6: What are your three priorities for achieving this vision?
(One of the specific answers to this question more closely defined the preference for groups of 20 to 30 townhouses at question 1 above. A limit of no more than 6 townhouses in one row was preferred.)
Both groups agreed on:
1. Continue the process of consensus building through meetings, questionnaires and contact with other communities for idea sharing.
2. Set aside more park spaces through by-laws.
3. Control density through land use regulations and by-law enforcement.

If you wish to comment on this subject or any visioning subject please contact the Fall River community Liaison group at:

fallriverclg@gmail.com