City council has given a women's addictions treatment centre near Grain Elevator Park an initial thumbs up, but is holding off on final approval for some sober second thought.
Council held a public hearing Monday for the proposed rezoning of 10 Meadowview Lane. If an associated permit is approved, it would allow Poundmaker's Lodge Treatment Centre to open an addictions treatment centre for women over 50 in a large house on the property.
This centre is greatly needed in the region, said Thelma Chalifoux, a board member with Poundmaker's who addressed council, adding it would carry on St. Albert's centuries-old tradition of caring for others.
"By supporting this amendment, St. Albert will be recognized as the city of friendship for all nations."
But this was a totally inappropriate place for a treatment centre, said Rita Grylls, who lives next to the proposed site. "This is right in the city in the centre of St. Albert," she said. "I personally think it's a totally inappropriate use of the facility."
A healing place
The site in question is a two-hectare lot at the corner of Meadowview Drive and Meadowview Lane. It is mostly forested, with one residence to the south, and features a nine-bedroom house formerly used as a retreat for Oblate priests.
Poundmaker's Lodge leased the site from the Oblates in March with plans to make it a youth treatment centre. That changed into a senior women's centre after a public meeting in July.
The house would hold up to 20 women aged 50 and over with drug, alcohol or gambling addictions, said Marty Landrie, executive director of Poundmaker's. The women would go through a 42-day treatment program based on aboriginal spirituality, group therapy and psychology.
The Michif Institute would also have its research and genealogy division there to teach clients about aboriginal culture, Chalifoux said. "This will give our women an identity … this gives them back their pride and self-esteem."
Clients would have 24-hour supervision and would not be let off the site without an escort, Landrie said. The house would be drug-free, with all clients going through detox before their arrival. Poundmaker's has run similar programs at its site east of St. Albert for 37 years without any complaints from the community, he noted.
Great debate
Grylls, one of two parties speaking against the amendment, said she was fine with the Michif being in the house, but not recovering addicts. "I truly don't believe there can be 24/7 control of people wandering through the woods."
Greg Wilkes of LA Ventures, which owns land west of the proposed site, said this change would undermine years of work that went into the Timberlea subdivision. "This is not about Poundmaker's Lodge. This is about a planning issue."
This amendment would not affect plans for Timberlea, countered planner Lenore Mitchell, noting that subdivision is at least five years away from development, and the Oblates plan to sell this site when that happens. Whoever owns the site at that point would have to follow the Timberlea area structure plan, which calls for residential zoning at the site. "We believe the direct control [designation] keeps the plan intact."
Coun. Len Bracko was one of many councillors who expressed support for the amendment, saying that it reflected the caring values of St. Albert's founders. "It will provide healing for women and, I believe, healing for St. Albert."
Coun. Malcolm Parker said he favoured the amendment, but wanted more conditions placed on the site to assuage local concerns.
The proposal has passed first and second reading, and is expected to return to council for a final vote on Dec. 20.
