Opponents of the proposed women's addiction treatment centre at the former Haldi Road School are preparing to bring the fight to city council on Oct. 3.
On Monday city council voted five to four in favour of moving ahead with a public hearing on the controversial project before a study on the proposal's impact on the local aquifer is complete. City staff had recommended the public hearing be postponed until a thorough water study is done.
The Northern Supportive Recovery Society and the property owner, a numbered B.C. company lead by local car dealership owner Craig Wood, conducted a preliminary water study in August.
"We have our own water study," Jagodnik said. "We did our own with... 177 people we approached and did an up-to-date well survey. The water study they gave, we'll show the holes in it."
Jagodnik said she is, "just very disappointed," with city council for allowing the public hearing to move forward before the issues with the aquifer are resolved.
Mayor Dan Rogers and councillors Shari Green, Cameron Stolz, Don Bassermann and Murry Krause voted in favour of advancing the public hearing. Councillors Brian Skakun, Debora Munoz, Garth Frizzell and Dave Wilbur voted against moving ahead without a completed water study.
Jagodnik said the Northern Supportive Recovery Society had the time to complete a detailed water study before applying for rezoning.
The school is currently zoned rural residential and, until recently, was used as a private home. The society is seeking to create a special therapeutic community zoning for the site.
Issues with the project go beyond water, Jagodnik said. Other concerns include safety and security around the site, property values and possible increased traffic, she said.
Haldi Road area resident Geraldine Pettersen said she is concerned the project will move ahead regardless of what the neighbourhood wants.
"They don't want neighbourhood input. They are going to ram this thing through," Pettersen said. "The neighbourhood is really upset about this."
Northern Supportive Recovery Society project manager Marshall Smith said, despite the short timeline, the society will attempt to complete an in-depth water study prior to the public hearing.
"The preliminary report we've done is just that," Smith said. "We realize the issue is now time sensitive. The best case scenario for the neighbours, and the society, is to have that study done."
Hydrological surveys are expensive, Smith said, and those costs are being born by the land owner.
"That's why we hoped to resolve the land use issues before we continued spending money on studies," Smith said.
The society will be holding a series of open houses for Haldi Road area residents to allow residents to tour the facility and ask questions one-on-one with society board members, Smith said.
Based on the motion put forward by Coun. Shari Green, the city will still receive the completed water study before council considers final approval of the rezoning. The report will be reviewed by city staff, and they will make a recommendation to approve or deny the rezoning based on their findings.
"In the three years I've been sitting here, that's how we've done things," Green said.
Green said if the project is not approved at the public hearing stage, then the proponent will not need to spend the money on the water study.
"This is an obvious hot topic. [And] it's not just about the water," Green said.
