Criticism of outreach supportive spaces pivots to city bylaws

There’s a small, shack-like structure now appearing behind the fence of the nascent outreach help-hub that’s been built in North Park.

And it has at least one critic calling for it to be taken down.

“To be honest, the only solution for this is that it needs to be removed because there’s just no place in the zoning bylaw that would allow a building like this,” Gary Streight, a North Park resident said.

It’s the latest example of tension between a community which feels the city is foisting upon it something it wasn’t consulted on and politicians who contend they’re merely making tough choices to help alleviate the city’s overdose and housing crises. Even before its introductory announcement was made public last June, SOLID Outreach’s Dowler Place Access Hub had been causing tension between North Park residents and Victoria’s city council.

The 5,264 square-foot property sits on the boundary of three neighbourhoods: North Park, Hillside Quadra and Burnside. The city provided Solid Outreach Society—a non-profit support service—with a one-time grant of $300K last year to purchase and refurbish the property at 2155 Dowler Pl. and also has pledged the services hub up to $1.8 million in funding.

Jack Phillips, SOLID’s executive director, describes the pilot initiative as "a welcoming low-barrier access point for people experiencing acute addiction and/or mental-health issues, who are underserved by existing street services.”

Those services include: health support; wound care; hospital accompaniment; health and harm reduction education; substance-use support; rapid access to detox and treatment programs; housing assistance; case management and support to secure and maintain housing; assistance with accessing income support; and training and education. It will also provide nighttime shelter and 25 overnight mats for those awaiting housing.

When the project was formally announced in July 2023, Coun. Marg Gardiner posted it to her blogsite as a “radical proposal” that would only facilitate the spread of such projects throughout the city.

“I fear that the crime and disorder that we find in encampments in parks and the Pandora and Elice areas will soon migrate to previously peaceful neighbourhoods throughout Victoria,” Gardiner wrote.

North Park residents are worried

Last June, a month before confirmation of the hub was announced to the public, North Park residents staged a rally outside City Hall where organizer Josh Montgomery told reporters, “There are going to be 300 people per day smoking fentanyl next door to a school. That’s fish in a barrel to the city’s drug dealers, pimps and thieves.”

The school he was referring to is George Jay Elementary, which is roughly one kilometre away.

On July 24, council voted to approve the following amendment to a 2018 zoning bylaw, paving the way for supporting precisely the kinds of services the hub is offering.

It reads: “Social Service Centre means a use of a Building by a public or non-profit agency or authority to provide support and assistance to those whose mental or physical well-being are at risk, including persons experiencing homelessness or persons at risk of homelessness, and may include the provision of food services, counselling, group meetings, and short-term day or night shelter not exceeding 40 shelter spaces, but does not include permanent residency, health-care facilities, or supervised consumption sites.”

Management stipulations articulated in section 4.2 of the Servicing Grant Agreement signed last May by the City of Victoria and SOLID Outreach ensure daily monitoring checks, clean and safe conditions for clients and the public, staff training, adequate security arrangements within the property, and ongoing collaboration with city bylaw officers and VicPD.

And still the fear of what the site might bring to North Park persists.

At a town hall meeting called by Mayor Marianne Alto, some members of the public expressed their concerns about the dangers they perceive the site poses.

While residents acknowledged that the types of services the Access Hub offers are sorely needed in Victoria, the some North Park residents and members of the Victoria Fire Department have been vocal in their concerns about safety and the city’s lack of public consultation on the project.

When asked at the meeting why residents were not consulted before the project was approved, Alto responded: “These are health services not usually up for debate. We put them in where they’re needed.” Her response prompted some in the audience to call for her resignation.

Renovations have been ongoing

Since it acquired the property last summer, SOLID has been renovating parts of the building and slowly rolling out its services to clients.

“We’ve had staff doing housing and detox referrals there since summer from the office side, but we just finished renovations on the main service area,” Mark Wilson, SOLID’s senior director, told Victoria Buzz.

Construction began on the site last July. At the time, no permits were required because no changes were being made to the external structure of the main building. Existing zoning of the Dowler property meant rezoning wasn’t necessary for the centre to proceed.

Streight says the city shouldn’t issue an occupancy permit for the facility and the accessory structure should be removed, because it breaches a number of city regulations. Previously, a fence was torn down and moved further back on the property to be in compliance with city bylaws. Streight, an architect by trade, is now saying that’s not enough.

New fence is a bone of contention

Streight argues that the new fence is not in accordance with the city’s fence bylaws. However, because North Park is zoned as commercial residential, subsection 5 of the bylaw can be read as exempting the requirements Streight asserts SOLID is violating.

Streight also contends the site’s accessory—its purpose is to provide covering over the courtyard—is non-compliant.

Bylaw has told Streight, the city is looking into it.

As is the new structure

On Wednesday, Streight told CFAX the structure was not included in SOLID’s zoning application. It straddles two properties and one-third of it sits on public property between it and Dowler Pl.

The Land Use Agreement signed last year, shows SOLID was given permission to use the strip of public property. Streight insinuated in his on-air comments that the covering is merely a draw feature, key to SOLID’s business model. Because of the shelter it provides he's worried people will gather and stay there, making it a place where clients will use drugs.

The city says it's working with SOLID to bring the outdoor structure into compliance and no permit will be issued for the exterior structure until it is deemed compliant by the chief building inspector.

The project will proceed, but it's clear it still has some hurdles to clear. The facility now has partial occupancy approved for the larger space, which can accommodate people overnight while they’re waiting on housing and entering or coming out of detox/treatment.

“We’re working with the city to get the outdoor covered area in compliance so we’ll be able to use that space down the line but for now, the indoor space is ready for overnight services,” Wilson, the SOLID senior director, said.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified Gary Streight as a spokesperson for the North Park Neighbourhood Association (NPNA). It also grouped the association with Streight in his complaints. The NPNA has nothing to do with any of actions carried out by residents of North Park on complaints to the city regarding fencing, non-conforming buildings, pivoting, leading opposition or any such activities mentioned. Its only roles have been to facilitate dialogue between the city, residents of North Park and SOLID.

Capital Daily regrets the error and apologizes to the NPNA.

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