Alpha House withdraws rezoning application
By Herald on August 25, 2021.
Alpha House has withdrawn its application to rezone the Lethbridge shelter location.Herald FILE photo Alpha House has withdrawn its application to rezone the Lethbridge shelter location. The application would have requested rezoning to allow a new potential drop-in centre, food bank location, a 27-bed shelter and stabilization facility, and additional substance use and recovery services.
Herald file photoTim Kalinowski – Lethbridge Herald
Alpha House has withdrawn its application to rezone its existing shelter location from the Railway Relocation Lands Area Redevelopment Plan, and move it to the new category of Direct Control to enable new uses of the site.
The rezoning, which was listed under Bylaws 6275 and 6276 and scheduled for public hearing during Tuesday’s council meeting, would have asked council to approve rezoning for a new potential drop-in centre, food bank location, a 27-bed shelter and stabilization facility for drug withdrawal management, and additional substance use and recovery services on top of the current services it already provides.
Alpha House in a letter submitted to council prior to Tuesday’s hearing said it still hoped to pursue the rezoning application in the future if the funding eventually becomes available.
“We are extremely disappointed to not be able to move forward with our applications,” the letter reads in part. “However, due to a loss of funding for this project, we are unable to proceed.
“It is our hope to continue engaging in the dialogue around social service provision in the city as we believe collaboration will be key to creating safe, inclusive communities for everyone.
“We appreciate the community support we have received thus far and hope to move forward with this process, with a new application, at a later date.”
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Yeaahhhh!!!! You are already collaborating with other shelters in Calgary and Edmonton that I am aware of, taking some of their overflow and increasing issues on our streets! Not impressed with that and we are tired of being ‘dumped’ on by other communities!
NO increasing the size of your operations here so you can take more from other communities!
When our first shelter was moved to that location, it increased it capacity and with a few years was often full! The bigger you build them the more people you will attract and I, along with many other residents had had enough and will fight this to the end!
In fact, we want the size reduced!
The withdrawal of Alpha Houses Application for a Supervised Consumption Site was no doubt celebrated as a victory by those who opposed it. However your celebrations should be short lived. Once again this 6-3 Council has decided they know far better than the Residents of this City and has no doubt tutored Alpha House to apply for “Direct Control” and hence the withdrawal of the Rezoning.
This has NOTHING to do with financing and is STRATEGIC
When Alpha House applies for “Direct Control” under Land Use Bylaw Section3 Page 155 you will find a descriptor that allows for an Administrative Change to Land Use, which would then allow our elected Councilors to avoid Public Scrutiny. In fact if you read this section Direct Control is the vaguest most non-descript section of this entire document. It basically allows Councilors to allow an administrative change without Public Input. So if you want an SCS within the confines of your building and your present use “fits that general usage, ie you have drug addicts hanging around the place, and you have a mobile site outside your building then applying for Direct Control allows someone who would be God in the City to deem it a mere “Administrative Change”.
So the people and Residents of this City that wrote in to prevent Alpha House becoming the next $343,000 a year SCS should not relax because ANOTHER disastrous SCS downtown is about to visit you, courtesy of “Direct Control and Alpha House”!
But wait, there’s more! We now find that Myashiro who was among the gang of 6 who decided it was my way or the highway, has now decided to run for the Provincial NDP. Considering that our present NDP Rep Phillips for Downtown, Orchestrated, Approved and Implemented the funding for our last SCS then you should be doubly cautious as to why Myashiro is running for Lethbridge East!
This Bylaw was instituted to allow implementation of Land Use that would normally be deemed inappropriate or inadequate. So you have to ask, if something is inappropriate or inadequate, why would your own City be encouraging Alpha House to apply under that Bylaw and allow the withdrawal of the Rezoning which required Public Meetings?
So watch the local news carefully, Alpha House will suddenly find the “lost funding” and reapply under Direct Control, Council will approve it “Administratively” and there will be nothing you can do about your NEW Bricks and Mortar SCS unless you start to object NOW!
AHS runs the mobile site, Alpha House is telling everyone that it was only a “Temporary solution” but that is NOT the case. AHS has these fully outfitted mobile units and they are a permanent solution unless of course you wish to run one privately like the last $343,000 fiasco!
Alpha house has claimed in news releases that the province withdrew the funding. But that explanation falls abit flat if you follow the course of events/changes in direction from Alpha house spokespeople.
There is alot more to this story than what the city or Alpha house told this herald reporter. There is a ghost behind many of the closets at city hall. Seems to me councilors want the city hall staff to be the scapegoats on this issue. I don’t think many residents are buying it.