Tampere board to vote on 24/7 care home for 19 people on the autism spectrum in Niemenranta

A proposed facility would house 19 residents and employ about 22 staff, Tamperelainen reports. It would be a 989-square-metre, round-the-clock residential unit at Matilda Niemen kuja 3 in Niemenranta.

About half the staff would be on site at any one time. The building footprint includes a 20-square-metre waste shelter. Planners want a zoning exception because standard rowhouse rules cannot provide the communal and care spaces or accessibility this group needs; the planned floor area is roughly 25 percent larger than current zoning allows due to care facilities rather than extra residents.

Parking would be clustered in the southwest with nine car spaces. Residents are not expected to own cars. Fifteen covered bicycle spaces would be located near the entrances. The proposal also includes a transparent metal-mesh fence around the southern yard for residents' safety.

The Pirkanmaa wellbeing area has backed the project. The environmental protection authority welcomed that natural areas would be spared and that a possible flying squirrel corridor had been considered. Neighbours were consulted and raised no objections.

The community board will decide at next Tuesday's meeting. If the exception is granted, construction could begin later once a separate building permit is approved.

The proposal follows Tampere’s recent approval of a 24-place care home in Lamminpää and a neighbour’s appeal against that permit to the administrative court the Lamminpää approvalthe subsequent appeal.