Current temporary shelter at Cannery Row in Red Deer. (rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Alessia Proietti

no update on permanent shelter

Public hearing to be held for site extension of temporary shelter; undetermined timeline

Oct 30, 2023 | 7:50 PM

Two years have passed and not only has the demand increased at Red Deer’s temporary shelter, but the question of its location in the Railyards neighbourhood has returned to city council.

At their meeting on Monday, city council passed first reading of a Land Use Bylaw (LUB) Amendment that will enable the temporary shelter to continue operations at Cannery Row (5239 53 Ave.); however, the timeline is yet to be determined. A public hearing date has also been scheduled.

Kath Hoffman, Executive Director of Safe Harbour Society, the organization who operates the current shelter, says last week they reached their highest intake ever of 230 individuals utilizing their shelter in one day.

Currently, the temporary shelter is permitted to operate until February 1, 2024. This decision was passed in January 2022 with the hope that a permanent shelter would be found by then, which to date has no news.

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The Society applied to The City to extend the zoning for five years rather than one year, as has been repeatedly given in the past.

DISCRETIONARY USE VS SITE EXCEPTION

The temporary shelter’s location is currently zoned as a Site Exception within the Direct Control 28 District, meaning it must follow a series of rigid requirements such as:

• have a security system and personnel to perform regular surveillance operation,
• must comply with the design elements that incorporate Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CEPTED) principles of natural surveillance, access control and territorial reinforcement,
• fencing to enclose area and provide visual screening, and
• the relationship between buildings shall be subject to approval by city council.

Each extension application requires an amendment to the LUB and then a development permit process which, because of the specific district, must be approved by city council.

After consultations with city administration and the Society, Emily Damberger, City Planning and Growth Manager, said both felt an amendment to the LUB should place the temporary shelter as a Discretionary Use rather than a Site Exception.

Hoffman says this has been the first time the Society has been invited to work with city administration and council.

“It’s a real indication of the willingness of this mayor and council and their team to work together collaboratively,” she said. “I was so grateful to be able to help brainstorm on some of those things. They may have an idea, but we know how that’s going to work on the ground or not.”

Part of the reasoning for the change, the City says, is that the temporary shelter fits the LUB definition of a Temporary Care Facility as “a facility providing temporary living accommodation where care is provided to residents and includes such facilities as overnight shelters, halfway houses, short term medical rehabilitation centres for substance use, detoxification centres, and hospices.” Temporary Care Facilities are currently listed a discretionary use in various other districts. As well, the move would align with council’s new LUB project principles approved earlier this year, which aims for simplicity and efficiency.

READ: Red Deer’s Land Use Bylaw review project aims for simplicity

If listed as a discretionary use, council can make requirements broader in scope, conditions and timelines can be further specified during the development permit stage, and any changes down the line can be more easily made. Under a site exception, any change must go back through an LUB amendment which requires three readings and a public hearing.

Councillor Kraymer Barnstable suggested that rather than setting a deadline in years, they could state the temporary shelter’s use of the location must be concluded when the permanent shelter is complete. The City confirmed these specifications, sunset clauses and other requirements can be determined in the development permit process.

NEXT STEPS

On November 14, administration will be bringing a report to council focusing on potential neighbourhood investment strategies, including infrastructure like sidewalks and lighting, and proposing other opportunities to implement CPTED design standards.

Councillor Bruce Buruma emphasized the need to consult with the surrounding business community and their concerns.

A Public Hearing has been scheduled for December 4 starting at 5 p.m. Property owners and adjacent landowners within Direct Control 28 District will be contacted to invite feedback on the application. Citizens are also invited to submit comments online, by email to publichearings@reddeer.ca, in person or by mail by November 24.

Council will then consider second and third reading of the bylaw and expect to discuss the development permit on December 18. This step does not require a public hearing.

PERMANENT SHELTER

As the Society has been providing temporary shelter services for many years at their main building across the street from Cannery Row, Hoffman says they have already gone through the LUB amendment process around 13 times.

She says they have known for 12 years that a permanent shelter is needed in the city. However, she pointed to the silver lining that if a shelter had been built even five years ago, it may not have been designed with all the necessary services that they now know they need, such purpose-built rooms for designated groups of people.

“Years ago, people in psychosis wouldn’t be wandering around the neighbourhood; they’d be in a facility somewhere. That’s not the case anymore. You kind of want to isolate those people a little bit from the general population, isolation spaces for people who are really sick, we need spaces to handle the elderly or people with mobility issues that have a hard time getting off a mat off the floor,” she said.

Until then, Hoffman encouraged the community to work together on this issue.

“We can’t do this in isolation and nor can we be expected to. Having that collaborative effort with the city, with Safe Harbour, with the RCMP, with our community partners, and our businesses, that’s the key,” she said.

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