Lac La Biche County council has voted in favour of continuing their plans to create a new homeless transitional facility on the eastern edge of the Lac La Biche hamlet. The site borders part of a community park and Rotary Club disc golf course.
Council made the decision at their February 7 council meeting in a five to three decision with councillors Lorin Tkachuk, Charlyn Moore and Colette Borgun voting against. It is the second time the property beside the Alexander Hamilton Community Park has been considered to house the site. A large public outcry met council two months ago when councillors chose the site out of three possible locations presented by the local transitional housing task force committee. The vocal opposition, including letters and presentations at a public hearing, forced council to back down from the location — despite already clearing a large portion of the municipal property, grading the site and preparing utility connections.
Tuesday's decision to go back to the site came after municipal administrators who are part of the transition committee presented an update on four possible locations for the facility along with details of the current temporary homeless camp at the Bonesville subdivision south of the Lac La Biche hamlet. The information came with updates on costs as well.
To date, since the transitional housing task force began in 2017, just over $455,000 has been spent on the project, including the purchase and retrofitting of trailers, planning and engineering costs for the property during the first go-round, as well as utility upgrades needed to build the facility. Almost $80,000 has been spent on the Bonesville temporary camp since it was created in November of 2021.
"...are we willing to throw those tax dollars into the garbage..."
-Lac La Biche County councillor Darlene Beniuk regarding money already spent on unpopular site for homeless facility
Councillor Darlene Beniuk made the motion to return to the site, in part, she said, because of those already-spent dollars.
"The County and public have already spent thousands and thousands of dollars on this site ... are we willing to throw those tax dollars into the garbage and just start again" Beniuk asked, saying the public would be more upset if the spent funds were wasted. "Well I"m not going to get hung out there by the public."
Before councillors voted, they went behind closed doors to discuss the location options again — including a fourth one, reportedly presented by a private land owner. The other possible locations include property southeast of the A&W restaurant near the off-campus school, and a parcel of land south of the Independent Grocers store. According to the transition committee's report, the Independent location was considered to be the "best" option. The location near the Alexander Hamilton Community park "can meet the potential needs" of the project, said transition committee member and Lac La Biche County FCSS manager Anita Polturak. The location near the off-campus school was defined as "suitable."
After the private meeting, council continued a short debate on Beniuk's proposed motion.
"The public has already spoken out about this location," said councillor Moore, during the discussion, reminding councillors about the recent public hearing where a crowd of residents and local groups spoke strongly against the location.
The vote was taken and the site was approved.
"We have to move the ball forward," said Lac La Biche County Mayor Paul Reutov, admitting that there was no perfect choice when it came to the site's location. "There is no such thing as perfect with what we have to work with, but we have to move on and help to address this issue."
With the site location approved, and when construction officially begins, the municipality will be eligible for a $150,000 grant from the Rural Development Network to go towards the costs.
Lac La Biche County's Associate CAO and manager of municipal recreation Darrell Lessmeister said community consultations would be happening immediately to explain the location, funding, and the operations of the proposed facility.
The proposed site still has to have final re-zoning approval before more construction can continue. That approval may not happen until the middle of May.
In the mean time, Lessmeister said tours of the site and presentations to community groups will be organized to better explain the decision.
