Prince George city council has approved a one-year temporary use permit for a youth mental health facility in the Haldi Road area south of College Heights, despite some neighbourhood opposition.
With a gallery full of spectators, in a 5-3 split, a divided city council approved the temporary use permit to allow the facility to go forward.
A specialized care company called Shift, based out of Halifax, is proposing to operate a staffed community care facility in a existing 5-bedroom, single-detached house at 4321 Grouse Rd.
The facility is expected to offer space for up to five youths over a two to three month duration.
The company was awarded a service contract to open a licensed community care facility in Prince George for The Maples, a provincially mandated adolescent mental health care facility in Coquitlam.
Andew Middleton, CEO of Shift, sent in a letter of intent to city council. He said the Maples is looking to expand its adolescent support services in regional communities so that families and youth don’t necessarily have to travel to the Lower Mainland to access support.
“The center will serve as a place of safety for young people needing support (it should be noted this is not a ‘group home’ and these are not youth in the care of family services),” said Middleton in the letter.
“The facility will also bring much needed professional support to Prince George, as we will offer a clinical therapist, Indigenous youth care worker, registered nurse and child a youth care practitioners. We plan on opening our doors in November.”
The facility will be staffed 24/7 but it will not have a permanent resident.
Middleton initially applied for a two-year temporary use permit to allow for the facility.
However, the application drew 40 letters in response with 38 in opposition and only 2 in support and the issue drew a full public gallery during Monday night’s council meeting.
Concerns were raised regarding the lack of communication with the neighbours, the number of clients allowed at the property and whether the well and septic system on the property could handle the proposed daily design flow, which would have to be permitted through Northern Health.
Mayor Simon Yu expressed that he regretted the applicant applied for a temporary use permit and not a rezoning, because if city council were dealing with a re-zoning then the matter would have to go before a public hearing.
Coun. Brian Skakun said he was concerned the temporary use permit would not give the city any guarantee that the proponent would only allow five residents at a time.
“I won't support this and I appreciate the phone calls and the emails and everything else I got. In the neighborhood, you know, I think they have enough concerns that they pointed out and one of the big ones was there is so many unknowns.”
Coun. Cori Ramsay then moved that council consider a one-year temporary use permit instead of a two-year temporary use permit.
“I think that perhaps one year could give us a little bit of information to make a decision on whether we would extend that or whether we would cancel it. I think it's a fair opportunity to look at this and get more information, which I think we're all wanting.”
Coun. Ron Polillo spoke in favour of the facility stating that there is a need for a facility like this in the community.
“If you read the letter of support, this is a company that is doing this work elsewhere in British Columbia and respected and I think that has to be considered by this council,” said Polillo.
“With a one-year time limit, this will give them an opportunity, if we choose to move ahead with it, to come back in one year and reassess and I think that's fair. That's a good compromise.”
After much more discussion when the issue finally came to a vote it passed 5-3 with Coun. Skakun, Kyle Sampson, and Mayor Yu opposed.
