Opponents of the Northern Supportive Recovery Centre for Women made their case in court Thursday, arguing that city council improperly rezoned the former Haldi Road school to accommodate the proposed addiction treatment centre.
In December, Leslie Road resident Janice Sevin, on behalf of area residents opposed to the centre, requested a judicial review of city council's Dec. 12 decision to rezone the former school from a rural residential to a special therapeutic community zoning. Sevin's petition asks the courts to quash the rezoning, which would allow the creation of a 30-bed women's addiction treatment centre.
On Thursday, Sevin's lawyer, Roy Stewart, made his arguments that the rezoning is invalid because it violates the city's Official Community Plan, would regulate the users -rather than the use of the property -and is an attempt to change the Official Community Plan without going through the legislated procedure for doing so.
"It will be a key feature of our case ... that the bylaw in question is inconsistent with the Official Community Plan," Stewart told the court. "You cannot justify compliance with the Official Community Plan for a rural residential area through compliance with sections of the residential urban section."
Stewart said city staff and the proponents of the project drew from the section of the OCP referring to urban neighbourhoods and those definitions do not apply in a rural area like Haldi Road.
City lawyer Raymond Young is set to make his counter-arguements in court today.
For full coverage, see Saturday's Citizen.
