Boyle Street defends plan to relocate central Edmonton agency
Chinatown Business Improvement Area accepts proposal after agency clarifies conditions of use
Boyle Street Community Services is hopeful a new-found ally will help convince an appeal board to let it build a social support centre.
Several organizations are appealing the development permit awarded in March to Boyle Street to build the King Thunderbird Centre at 100th Street and 107A Avenue, a replacement for its existing centre at 101st Street and 105th Avenue.
The city's subdivision and development appeal board heard from both sides at a hearing Wednesday.
Chinatown and Area Business Improvement Area expressed a change of heart from its previous position and said it's now willing to accept the project.
Steve Hammerschmidt, director of economic recovery with the Chinatown BIA, said Boyle Street clarified what it intends to do with the space, namely, not operate it as a drop-in day shelter.
"Now that we've looked at Boyle Street's position on this facility, we do believe that that will be able to fit nicely into the community," Hammerschmidt told news media outside the meeting.
Hammerschmidt said Chinatown residents have been compassionate but emphasized the high concentration of social agencies in the area creates ongoing challenges.
"We see the people that are in need, we want them to get help, we don't know how to get them help," Hammerschmidt said. "We know what has been done up to this far has not worked."
Jordan Reiniger, Boyle Street executive director, said the agency agreed to some conditions after hearing concerns.
"In good faith with the community because we want to be good neighbours and we want to make sure everybody's comfortable with where we're coming from, we imposed, voluntarily, some conditions just to clarify what we were intending to do in this space."
The envisioned King Thunderbird Centre, okimaw peyesew kamik in Cree, is not a drop-in shelter for people to get food, use the facilities and then leave.
Clients can access showers, bathrooms and have food only if they're at the centre for health-related services.
For example, if a person is there to get advice or treatment for shigella, they can also receive meals and take a shower.
Shell spaces, where nothing is yet planned, would require a new development permit, Reiniger said.
Opposition
At the hearing on Wednesday, a few people urged the board to overturn the development permit.
Michelle Patterson Nipp, whose son is in Grade 3 at the Victoria school, was among parents and students expressing concern that social disorder issues will get worse in the area.
"We implore you that the safety of the children is indeed relevant, and they are going to be largely affected by what happens with this development."
She said she received a photo that afternoon of "someone walking around, trying to get into Victoria school and this person was buck naked."
"These are concerns that are currently happening," she told the board.
Amy Hlus, a former student at Victoria School, said she's been harassed and threatened by people in the area.
She's worried for her 14-year-old sister who still attends the school.
"My sister should not have to fear being harassed on her way to school, my sister should not have to tiptoe around needles when walking on school grounds."
Reiniger said Boyle Street and social agencies have the same worries.
"The people in the neighbourhood have very legitimate concerns. I think everybody is really tired with the status quo, as are we."
Several groups had signed up to speak in opposition, including the McCauley Residents Coalition, the Central McDougall Community League and the Viva Italia Business Association but they did not appear at the hearing.
It's the second appeal of a development permit, after the board overturned the agency's original pitch in November 2022.
City development officers then approved a Class A permit for Boyle Street in March, after the agency changed the defined use.
The city's subdivision and development appeal board is required to make a ruling on the permit appeal within 15 days.
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