A plan to build a major redevelopment and expansion at Queensway Health Centre has been given the green light.

Hearings will take place at some point now that Etobicoke York Community Council approved the huge project at a meeting on June 17.

Councillor Stephen Holyday says no date has been set for public consultations.

“We still have a long way to go,” Holyday says. “It is very much at an early stage at this time.”

Trillium Health Partners is planning to build a nine-storey inpatient hospital wing at the Queensway site at 150 Sherway Dr., which will contain 416 beds to the north of the existing hospital. An eight-storey parking structure with 910 spaces is also planned.

The hospital has been raising funds and lobbying government officials to get approval to “provide more patients with the right care in the right place at the right time.”

They have raised $38.8 million so far that will go to the project.

This new wing would be connected by a covered walkway to the existing hospital building and pedestrian entrances would be from The West Mall side.

In addition to the 910 parking spots, 527 existing surface parking spaces will remain bringing the total number of parking spaces to 1,437. There will also be 124 new bicycle parking spaces.

The site will be located at the southwest corner of The Queensway and The West Mall, where some small hospital buildings stand.

Trillium Health Partners say they are gearing up for the next 20-years and to meet this demand, and are planning major expansion projects at the Credit Valley Hospital, Mississauga Hospital and the Queensway Health Centre.

The hospital last year received over 1.7 million patient visits and 276,003 visits to the hospital’s Emergency Departments and Urgent Care Centre. This is a significant increase from previous years. They have also performed 65,520 surgeries and delivered 8,364 babies.