Red Deer city council approves development permit for emergency shelter

Red Deer Mayor Cindy Jefferies said, although she understands the concerns raised by Curtis, everyone involved will need to work together to ensure this is successful.

“I have said repeatedly through the process that this is one piece of service our community needs. This will help provide services and wrap-around supports in a way that our community has not seen before,” Jefferies said.

“Will it solve all of the problems we face in our community? No, and people need to understand the expectation is not that this is going to open and magically everything is going to be good. There are still services and needs in our community… Together we’ll work to talk about those needs.”

Announced in early January, Project Nexus is a facility proposed by the 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. The emergency shelter is proposed as phase one, which is the “anchor use” of Project Nexus.

As the development authority, council’s decision was to ensure that what they were approving, met the regulations and requirements of the Direct Control zone 36. Council rezoned the property from heavy industrial to DC 36 last February.

The approval also came with 21 recommended conditions, many of which were tied to DC36 requirements.

Among the conditions is that the shelter must not exceed 200 beds; however, 50 beds in surge capacity were added as an amendment as needed.

In addition, the operator must provide security patrols at all hours of the day and install CCTV surveillance.

The barbed wire on existing fencing must be removed and mini-mesh security fencing installed in some areas.

In addition, the operator will need to set up law enforcement liaison with the RCMP and the city’s Municipal Policing Services. Lighting will also need to be installed.

The remaining conditions can be found in the agenda package on RedDeer.ca.

City administration explained, as part of public consultations, 17 notification letters were sent to landowners within 100 metres of the site.

As a result, 140 comments were received, including 70 who were opposed, 48 in support, and 22 were either neutral or mixed.

Many of the concerns raised were about community safety, site suitability, operations and enforcement, and spillover into nearby trails, neighbourhoods, and the off-leash dog park. Administration said some of these concerns were addressed in the conditions.

Councillor Curtis said she’s in favour of the campus model, but that at this time, the application doesn’t demonstrate a campus model.

“There are no committed wrap-around services and agencies identified in the application before council. If there’s no buy-in, letters of intent, or agreements from other providers, then this is not a campus and therefore causes risk,” she said.

“Rushing this project does not serve the community, the operator, or those who are accessing.”

Councillor Chad Krahn said he has a lot of questions about the future phases, but has full confidence in Hope Mission to provide a great shelter.

“I’m actually really excited they get the opportunity to go into shelter space and design the shelter for what they need and what it should look like,” he said.

Councillor Tristin Brisbois said we are all hoping for the best but that we also need to plan for the worst. More specifically, she said it will be important for there to be a commitment from everyone involved.

She said she’s hopeful and appreciative of the neighbour advisory committee, which could address concerns from within the area.

Councillor Kraymer Barnstable said that, as much optimism as there was, he noted that it’s still important to remember that there are still a lot of concerned community members.

“As much as we want to get this solution moving forward, we have to do it in the right way.”

by Ian Gustafson

Red Deer city council approves development permit for emergency shelter

What's Trending