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Red Deer city council approves supervised consumption in Railyards

Nov 26, 2018 | 2:40 PM

Red Deer city council has voted 5-3 in favour of allowing Turning Point to open supervised consumption services at a building in the Railyards area.

Mayor Tara Veer, as well as councillors Vesna Higham and Tanya Handley voted against the changes to the Land Use Bylaw.

Turning Point Executive Director Stacey Carmichael said her organization is extremely pleased with the final decision.

“We know this did not come lightly and we know we have a lot of work ahead of us,” she said. “We want to move as quickly as possible. I’d like to see it in the next few months, but I am an optimist.”

Carmichael added that she wholeheartedly believes that concerns raised will be addressed. A number of those concerns have been raised by the archery organization which is situated next door, the executive director of which told rdnewsNOW two weeks ago that should this be approved, it would be the death of their club.

“I respectfully disagree,” Carmichael responded. “This is a solution to some of these concerns. The same logic would say that if we built a new hospital, we’d have more sick people.”

The building at 5233 54 Avenue is currently vacant and is in close proximity or directly adjacent to several businesses, some of which service youth and children.

“I personally have struggled with the Railyards district. Council of the day was very intentional in including institutional service facilities for this area, not the social service sector, with one exception, Safe Harbour, which was there prior to direct control zoning and has had a series of amendments,” Mayor Veer said. “So I’m conflicted, because there’s much in the Land Use Bylaw that are protections included in there to help mitigate concerns of the neighbourhood.”

Handley added, “Hearing from the businesses in the area and those that wrote to us, I have to say that this use is not compatible for the surrounding area. I’m not totally confident that all the concerns raised by businesses in that area will be properly mitigated.”

Councillor Ken Johnston, on the other side, said the status quo is not working.

“This is a health crisis. What I did hear (two weeks ago) was the following: I heard fear, frustration, anger, hopelessness, hopefulness, sympathy, empathy and a plea to be understood and heard by everyone that attended the public hearing,” he said. “I think it’s fair to say that all of our citizens don’t wake up in the morning looking for ways to make life difficult for other citizens in our community. All of us care about the afflicted, the lost and the addicted under the curse of opioids.”

Johnston also called for a summit involving all stakeholders to take place in order to come up with the right solutions for all of Red Deer’s major issues including drugs and crime, especially in the downtown area.

Veer, who called this a once in a generation decision, as well as Councillor Michael Dawe expressed consternation with the province’s and Alberta Health Services’ reluctance to implement SCS at the hospital grounds after council made that possible in Dec. 2017.

“I am disappointed. I heard earlier about a health crisis and Alberta Health Services said ‘although there’s a site, were not going to act on that,’” Dawe said. “If you have a crisis, why was that suddenly off the table? I’ve never heard a good explanation.”

Carmichael explained that if AHS had put SCS there, it might actually make the situation worse because the vast majority of drug users wouldn’t travel to that location. She added that it also would have cost a lot more money.

“Alberta Health Services is encouraged by council’s approval for supervised consumption services at this site,” says Kerry Bales, Chief Zone Officer with AHS. “We look forward to Turning Point operating an SCS in Red Deer. Supervised consumption services provide a place where people can use previously-obtained substances in a monitored environment to reduce harm and overdose death while offering additional services such as counselling, social supports and access to treatment options.”

City staff will now work on a report for a future meeting of council which will outline a number of conditions to be included in the development permit and business license to eventually be issued to Turning Point. Councillor Dianne Wyntjes did not take part in debate or the vote Monday because she missed the public hearing, as per the Municipal Government Act.