It wasn’t long before Kelowna City Council passed a controversial proposal to build a supportive 52-bed housing estate to a public hearing on Monday afternoon.
However, given the public opposition to the project in the neighborhood, the public hearing is likely to take much longer.
The council unanimously voted on Monday to pass the proposed statute for the rededication of land on Agassiz Road 2025 in first and second readings, which means that there will now be a controversial public hearing, which is expected to take place in January.
CONNECTED: Controversial Kelowna Support Housing Project going on council on Monday
Residents of the area, many of whom are seniors and live in nearby condominiums, are against the project because local residents can consume drugs and alcohol.
They are concerned about safety, a decline in property values, and the general impact on their neighborhood.
The development to be built by BC Housing is viewed as a harm reduction facility and would employ health workers to monitor residents’ drug use.
Following the council’s decision at its weekly public meeting, residents Dave Bradshaw and Keith Garries said they along with many residents in the neighborhood believe the building is in the wrong location.
They say it should be elsewhere in town, not in their neighborhood south of Orchard Plaza in Midtown. Even so, Bradshaw denied that the local opposition is a case of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard).
CONNECTED: Protests ahead of the Open House for a supportive housing proposal in Kelowna
He said the building – part of the province’s drive to provide homes for the homeless, some of whom are drug addicts – would be acceptable if it were only for homeless seniors or women fleeing abusive relationships.
But he also said residents were not concerned about the building’s tenants but about the type of people he believes would come into the neighborhood from outside to do drugs with the building’s residents.
As a result of BC Housing’s plan, residents have founded the Ambrosi Neighborhood Association and its members plan to protest in front of City Hall on December 10th.
A few weeks ago, residents protested before an open house at a Kelowna hotel where BCHousing tried to explain the project to the public.
Bradshaw and Garries said they expected the council to “stamp out” the proposal on Monday and promised to be back at the public hearing with more residents.
The public hearing gives the city council the opportunity to hear directly from the proponent, supporters and opponents of the project before deciding whether to finally approve the rededication statute.
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