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Guiding Principles of the Memorandum of Understanding

The principles guiding the Steering Committee and the parties have been incorporated into a Memorandum of Understanding.  The principles include:

Both Markham and the Hospital will acquire parcels of land on which the facilities will be located.  Where necessary, parcels will be exchanged at agreed upon values, to ensure that the boundaries of the parcels reflect the final site plans.  Any such land acquisitions by the Town will be the subject of separate reports to Council.
Both Markham and the Hospital will participate in the site planning process.
Each of the facilities, the Community Centre/Library and the Wellness Centre, will be capable of being independently designed and constructed, but will be planned to be integrated into a single complex of buildings.
The facilities will be designed with common terms of reference.
The Community Centre and Library will be designed, to the extent possible, to provide the Hospital and the Wellness Centre with the opportunity for exclusive or shared use of services, for instance, a medical library, open 24/7.
Each party is responsible for their own costs of planning, design, construction, etc.
Where the Hospital shares services within the Community Centre or Library, the parties will enter into an agreement with respect to sharing capital, operating, design and construction costs.
The parties intend to provide a parking structure for shared use by both parties, acknowledging that the Town’s facility may precede the construction of the parking structure and therefore require surface or other parking to be available upon commencement of the Community Centre/Library’s operations.
The parties agree to consider an environmentally friendly building approach.
• The parties agree to work with MDEI to evaluate its ability to provide cost effective energy services to the facilities.