LAC LA BICHE - After years of debate, Lac La Biche County councillors have voted — not unanimously — to build an emergency transitional homeless facility next to a Lac La Biche park.
During the morning session of Tuesday's regular council meeting, with only councillor Charlyn Moore opposed, and councillor Lorin Tkachuk not in attendance, council voted in favour of rezoning almost eight acres of municipally-owned property beside the the Alexander Hamilton Community Park from a commercial district to institutional use. The zoning change will make way for the building of a facility operated by the local Out of the Elements Shelter Society and the municipality.
Public opposition
Despite years of discussions and public consultations, opposition to the project's location has remained. Just moments before council voted on the re-zoning, the owner of a neighbouring property to the proposed facility spoke against the change. Jordan Gauthier presented his "strong opposition" to the re-zoning, saying it could result in adverse effects to the community park-setting. He also questioned the years-long process of the discussions that lead to a final report by the local Transitional Housing Task Force listing the park as a third choice out of four possible locations. The number-one site was on land near the Independent grocery store on the other side of the community.
"It's like they had a first-round draft pick, and the went with the third choice," he explained, adding that public hearings about the issue drew a lot of opposition to the park location. That opposition, he said, resulted in council halting the process late last year. At that point, he said, it seemed as if the public had spoken and their elected representatives had listened. "Council has heard the questions and concerns. The public showed up and spoke and council listened and council did the work of the people."
Since then, he said, including a private meeting of council in February, councillors have again changed their minds. "What discussions happened behind those closed doors? ... Now we are back kicking the same can down the same road."
Not opposed to a homeless facility, Gauthier says it is simply about the location and the process.
"This is a short-term fix with long term consequences," he said.
Out of the Elements board member Lenora Lemay fully understands the concerns, and says the years of debate, discussion and consultation have also been used by society members and the task force to fortify the plans to address homelessness. She says the society has used the input from the community — positive and negative — to move forward.
"We are working towards solutions. Without the ideas and input, nothing will change for those people experiencing homelessness in our community — or our community either," she said, explaining that staffing and programming needs have been addressed and funding sources have been developed. "And now we need a place with more space to move all these initiatives."
On the move
Although council has voted to re-zone the land to move forward with the homeless facility, ironically, the facility will be constructed so it won't necessarily be a permanent structure on the land.
Councillor Jason Stedman doesn't like the selected site, but voted in favour of the re-zoning because it is the will of council. Part of the reason he voted in favour, he said, was because the facility will be built so it can move if the location isn't right.
"It's a fluid situation, and party of the design feature of the transitional housing facility is that it can be moved if need be. If it doesn't work, there is a solution," said Stedman, explaining that something needs to be done to move ahead with the process that has been on-going for too many years. "We have to get it across the line ... Winter is coming — again," he said.
The Out of the Elements Society is currently operating out of the old curling rink facility along the Lac La Biche Main Street. The municipality has already spent in excess of $600,000 on new trailers, ground work and infrastructure for the new location. With the re-zoning approval, County crews are expected to start on the construction right away.
During the public consultation process, and during the public hearings, there were references to legal action from the public that could slow down or halt the process. In recent weeks, and during council the most recent meeting where there were no other written or verbal objections to the project aside from Gauthier, no references were made to legal action.
Darrell Lessmeister, Lac La Biche County's acting CAO of Recreation and Community Services, said his understanding from previous open house sessions that drew more than 100 people, and public hearings that filled the viewing gallery at council meetings was hat most of the people attending "were in favour of putting it in that location."
