Neighbours of a controversial North Park facility to help the homeless are demanding that the city take down an accessory structure erected on the property without a permit.
The community group says the city should not issue an occupancy permit for the facility at 2155 Dowler Pl. and the accessory structure should be removed, as it breaches a number of city regulations.
“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,” said group spokesman Gary Streight.
Streight said the structure is built in the side yard and not at the rear of the property as required, it was built without a building permit, and its foundations are on public property.
“There’s really no building regulation that would allow for this building,” he said. “And they knew that because this wasn’t part of the development permit application that they submitted. They do have a development permit application that’s approved, but this building is not included on that plan.”
It’s just the latest source of friction between the facility and the neighbourhood, which includes the Island Farms milk plant across the street, a residential neighbourhood to the east and Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre a block to the south.
The Dowler Place facility, which will be operated by SOLID Outreach, is being established to help people find housing and treatment services.
The city provided $300,000 to help SOLID Outreach Society buy the property at the corner of Dowler Place and Princess Avenue, which sold last year for $1.65 million.
The city also committed up to $1.8 million in operating funding for one year.
Neighbours have for months been arguing the facility is too close to the residential neighbourhood and many have expressed fears of the potential for open drug use, increased theft and threats from clients using the facility.
SOLID has painted a different picture of the facility, as a community centre where people with housing case-managers or a treatment-management team will be able to spend their days.
The covered courtyard at the facility, which Streight wants torn down, is meant to be where group meetings, clinics and Indigenous-led programs are held.
SOLID has maintained that the facility will not be a consumption site for drugs, though drug use will be allowed, to reduce the chances of someone overdosing and dying because they have hidden away to get a fix.
Streight said the accessory structure is a big problem, as it will become a place where the clients will use drugs.
“This accessory building provides a sitting-out space for that kind of activity to occur. And so it’s important that this building comes down, so it doesn’t allow for drug usage on site,” he said.
The City of Victoria does not seem inclined to tear down the structure, however.
In a statement, the city said it is working with SOLID to bring the outdoor structure at 2155 Dowler Pl. into compliance.
“No permit will be issued for the exterior structure until it is deemed compliant by the chief building inspector,” the city said Tuesday.
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