Duncan city council wants more work done to find another location for an extreme weather response shelter after deferring a decision on whether to allow the operation of one this winter at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, located at 531 Herbert St., at its meeting on June 19.
Council made the decision to defer the application for a temporary-use permit after receiving more than 20 emails mainly opposed to situating the shelter at the church site, a petition from the community signed by dozens of people against it, and facing a room full of residents and business owners from the Cairnsmore neighbourhood who also are taking issue with the application.
Last December, at the request of BC Housing and Lookout Health Society, council authorized the EWR shelter to be activated at St. Andrew’s church in advance of formal consideration of a TUP application to the city.
RELATED STORY: NORTH COWICHAN WANTS TO SEE WARMING CENTRE FOR HOMELESS IN ANOTHER LOCATION
The application is for placing the EWR shelter, which would have 20 beds, at the site for the next two winters, and for it to operate overnight between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. between Nov. 1 and April 30 when an extreme weather alert is issued or when extreme weather events occur.
But many neighbours are opposed to the having the shelter at the church site after their experience with it last winter.
Jessica Fetchko, owner the The Fishbowl Cafe, said that while she has compassion and the desire for the shelter users to get help and stay safe, the way that it has been dealt with at the church site has only increased the risk to local students and businesses.
She said there have been mornings that she had to wait an hour to have police remove people from the cafe’s steps, with knives and drug paraphernalia openly displayed.
“I regularly dispose of needles, crack pipes, bloody wipes, baggies with pills, burnt tinfoil, uneaten food and various items of clothing,” Fetchko said.
“There have been fires set under my wooden side steps… I don’t have all the answers and I do want to see proper places for the suffering, but it is my job as a parent and citizen to stand up for the safety of my children, staff and neighbours.”
RELATED STORY: COLD WEATHER SHELTER NOT OPEN ON NIGHT OF HOMELESS MAN’S DEATH IN DUNCAN
As well as voting to defer the application until October to allow more time for a more suitable location for the shelter to be found, council also want ideas raised during the discussion on how to make the church site more palatable to the neighbours explored further if the decision is made to place the shelter there.
They include having muster stations where the shelter users would gather and be transported to the shelter in the evenings and transported away in the morning, and increasing security around the site.
Coun. Jenni Capps said she noted the large opposition from the Cairnsmore neighbourhood to the shelter at the church site.
“I think that if we want to look at the future of providing an emergency weather shelter, which unfortunately is a need in our community, we want to do it right and to be very careful about how we do it,” she said.
“I have been really surprised during my time on council to find that a lot of locations that seem like they would be ideal are not suitable. I appreciate the church stepping forward and being willing to take this on. I’m very disappointed that in all the years looking, not one other organization has stepped forward to host this. We should be able to do better.”
Coun. Garry Bruce said he doesn’t want the application deferred and urged council to vote on it at the meeting.
He said he feels the community has spoken and thinks council would probably be making the worst mistake in its history by approving the application for the shelter at the church site.
“I’m absolutely aghast at us even thinking of doing this in a residential area,” he said.
“I think we must get this site off the table. It’s not a good spot for it.”
Council voted to defer the application until October, with Bruce opposed.
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
