During its recent annual general meeting, the Idylwylde Golf and Country Club's membership authorized the club's board to negotiate with Health Sciences North for the purchase of about nine acres of its land.

The hospital wants to buy the land from the neighbouring golf club to add more parking on its campus.

Idylwylde officials were not immediately available for comment, but hospital spokesperson Dan Lessard confirmed the club has agreed to negotiate with Health Sciences North over the land.

He said he can't discuss the possible purchase price, as such information is never disclosed before “a deal is signed and we actually take ownership of the land.”

Lessard also said there's no way of saying at this point how long negotiations will take, although hospital CEO Dr. Denis Roy has stated he wants to have them done within the next 60 days.

The hospital has actually been in talks with the golf club for more than a year. Officials originally wanted to buy a small portion of Idylwylde's land to build a tiered parking structure.

Previous estimates for the tiered parking structure's cost were $20,000 to $30,000 per spot, or up to $26 million.

However, Health Sciences North senior vice-president Joe Pilon said last month the hospital now hopes to buy enough land that it can build a surface parking lot.

A surface parking lot would cost much less, he said, although he had no cost estimates.

The province does not fund parking structures, so Health Sciences North would have to pass the cost of the parking structure along to the public through increased rates, Pilon said.

To alleviate the parking crunch on the hospital's campus, last year Health Sciences North purchased a four-acre, 200-spot parking lot on Centennial Drive. The lot's total cost was $1.7 million.