Durand neighbours fighting autism centre proposed for $4 million Queen St. mansion

An Oakville woman wants to open a six-bed alternative therapy centre for children with autism in a century-old Georgian mansion on Queen Street South.

She's asking the city for permission to operate a so-called residential care facility out of the home, at 403 Queen Street South, which has 20 rooms and nine fireplaces and has been listed in recent years for $4 million.

"We are going to document the recovery of the six children in our care with severe autism," said Lisa Stephenson, founder of the project, called the Hamilton Neuro-Immune Treatment Centre of Excellence. 

They have good reason to fear that the application for the [residential care facility] is kind of a cloak for what's really planned.- Frances Murray, president, Durand Neighbourhood Association

Marketing materials say the centre is "on the cutting edge of treatment options for individuals impacted by this new epidemic of pediatric neurological dysfunction."

Her would-be neighbours say her plan goes far beyond what typical residential care facilities (RCF) are. In letters to the city, they say she should have to submit to a full zoning process to see the building used for what they consider an institutional, not residential, use.

'They have good reason to fear'

As it is, a hearing Thursday at the committee of adjustment was scheduled as a "minor variance," an exemption to a rule prohibiting such buildings from being within 300 metres from each other.

There is already a residential care facility 160 metres away. City staff recommends denying the application for that reason.

The hearing was adjourned at the request of Stephenson's lawyer, Wade Poziomka, so he could review the dozens of submissions and issues that have been raised by the neighbours and city staff. About 30 Durand residents attended city hall in anticipation of the meeting, and were audibly disappointed it would not go ahead Thursday. 

The hearing was postponed until Nov. 30.

The application for the minor variance is a change of plan for Stephenson, who initially told neighbourhood residents in public meetings that she would be applying for a zoning change for the project.

"They have good reason to fear that the application for the [residential care facility] is kind of a cloak for what's really planned," said Frances Murray, president of the Durand Neighbourhood Association, which opposes Stephenson's variance request.

Stephenson's website says the property will include a six-bed inpatient unit, a treatment room, a gym, a pool, a therapeutic playground, a kitchen, dining hall, garden and greenhouse, a "clinical research and development facility, a library, a lecture theatre and facilities for education and training.

Letters in support of the proposal included one from the current owner of the home and a retired special education principal.

In more than 20 letters to the committee, neighbours oppose the project. Many say calling the proposal a simple residential care facility is misleading.

They fear the parking and traffic impacts on Queen and Hess streets of the centre opening. Some fear possible fire code and renovations for the facility could damage the character of the home, which is not protected under heritage designation.

But Stephenson said in an email to neighbours that she is "establishing a social enterprise, not a commercial one" and plans to keep the building true to its "historic glory."

'They're trying to make me out to be unprofessional, underhanded'

Murray said the neighbourhood association's argument doesn't touch the city's 300-metre rule – "we don't have an issue with that," she said.

"An RCF is just basically a place where people can stay and be treated for whatever it is," said Murray. "But what this is promising to do is far more than that."

Stephenson said the neighbours aren't being fair to what she wants to accomplish.

"They're trying to make me out to be unprofessional, underhanded," she said. "They think I'm trying to circumvent the bylaw, the guidelines, that I'm trying to operate a business under the guise of a residential care facility."

'Attempt to sabotage our efforts'

Stephenson said she has been shocked at the reaction.

"They don't want this in their neighbourhood – they've told me that – and I believe that this is their attempt to sabotage our efforts," she said.

Stephenson sees her proposed centre as offering an alternative to the current models of treatment.

Stephenson, a trained teacher, said she hasn't yet had responses from the doctors she has invited to be part of her effort. She hopes the centre can document those alternative approaches in a way that can revolutionize health care not just in Canada but around the world.  

Her offer to purchase the Queen Street property is conditional on receiving the variance she's applying for. She hasn't yet applied for health and safety licencing. She said she has raised about 5 per cent of the first phase of their fundraising goal, which is $2.6 million.

"My first thought was that everyone would embrace this, because we're doing something that has never been done before, we're doing something that is desperately needed," she said. "That hasn't been the case, and I'm not quite sure why."

kelly.bennett@cbc.ca