Red Deer city council approves rezoning for Project Nexus

In an interview following deliberations, Mayor Cindy Jefferies said it’s a big day for our community.

“This is an opportunity for a proposal to come forward in the community. This kind of landed in the lap of the homeless foundation; it’s an opportunity they didn’t see coming six months ago. To think of the possibility with the Nexus concept, I think is a really great opportunity for our community, and it creates the opportunity for us to see services come together in an integrated, coordinated, and collaborative process that will better serve people in our community. And hopefully, address some of the concerns we have for homeless people.”

However, there was an approved amendment made to the resolution, which removed the emergency shelter from permitted use and added it to discretionary use.

This change was first identified by city administration during deliberations as council was exploring the possibility of adding conditions following concerns they heard from the public.

This amendment now allows council to add additional conditions at a later date, such as security, fencing, and clean up.

This came after councillor Tristin Brisbois proposed an amended resolution for the zoning, asking for conditions such as operational risk mitigation to address security, an industrial interface for matters including noise impacts and buffer zones, a traffic impact assessment, and maximum occupancy to not exceed 200 beds in the shelter.

Brisbois ultimately withdrew her amendment upon the realization that these items can be addressed at a later date.

Councillor Chad Krahn also withdrew an amendment to remove a day care as a discretionary use at the site, noting that it could also be addressed at the development permit stage.

Announced in early January, Project Nexus is a facility proposed by the Red Deer Homeless Foundation to provide a one-stop hub for housing, health, recovery, and social supports under one roof.

It is to be located at 7740 40 Avenue, a 4.89-acre site formerly occupied by Peavey Industries, and across the street from the municipality’s civic yards, in an industrial area on the north end.

Among the points raised at the public hearing were concerns with the location, public safety, crime, if the land use was compatible with the facility, environmental concerns, and so much more.

Jefferies said the public hearing, which featured nearly 80 total speakers over two days, was a wonderful opportunity for the community to express their concerns and/or support for the proposed changes in zoning.

“It’s hard to take the zoning case and separate it from the proposed use. We know that a permanent shelter is what the dream is on that site, so when people think about it, that’s what they want to talk about,” the Mayor explained.

“People say stick to the zoning issues, and it’s really hard because our hearts go to what we can see and feel. I think we did a good job of having a conversation that allowed for a little bit of both, and for what citizens were concerned about to be heard by council and by members of the homeless foundation.”

She said this is the first step that creates an opportunity and the closest thing we’ve come to in the last nine years in having a permanent site for a permanent shelter facility in our community.

Jefferies explained that Hope Mission, which was chosen as the shelter operator by the provincial government, will now submit the development permit application. Once that’s received and conditions have been met, it will come forward to council. That process could take approximately two months.

Darcy Mykytyshyn, Homeless Foundation CEO, said Thursday’s result by city council is the first step of a long journey.

He explained that this project has always been about “for the community by the community.”

In the days and weeks ahead, he said, the foundation will now engage with all the stakeholders in the community about what Project Nexus needs to look like.

He said they brought forward a concept and proposal, and now they want to involve everyone in designing it.

“The first phase of this project will be to get the permanent shelter established as quickly as possible,” he said. “We’ve been working closely with Hope Mission over the last two months. We will continue to have a great conversation with them about how we can get the shelter open, and then that will give us a little bit of time to plan out the rest of everything and have the conversations in the community that we need to have.”

Mykytyshyn added that, while it’s not guaranteed, they hope to have the facility open before next winter.

by Ian Gustafson

Red Deer city council approves rezoning for Project Nexus

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