Kamloops city council demands more information about BC Housing plans for Fortune Drive site

Photo: City of Kamloops

A rendering of BC Housing's proposed 54-unit supportive housing project intended for the 300-block of Fortune Drive.

Kamloops city council met a North Shore rezoning application with scrutiny on Tuesday, asking for more information about a proposed supportive housing development amid community concern.

A decision on a rezoning application for 327 and 321 Fortune Dr. And 285 Leigh Rd. was delayed in August, with council citing a need to wait until after the provincial election to ask BC Housing about the project.

On Tuesday, in a 6-3 vote, council agreed to distribute a public notice regarding the zoning change sought to allow increased density on the site, with the understanding that the matter will have to come back to city hall for another vote in the future.

Council members also directed staff to organize a meeting between the city and BC Housing so council can get more information about the proposal.

"I really need to see more information before I could move it past the next level. But for public engagement purposes, I'm willing to support this to get this onto the table where we can do a deeper dive,” said Coun. Margot Middleton.

“I am going at face that we will hear more, and this can’t proceed without an awful lot of oversight by council, and that the opportunity to turn it down is still there.”

BC Housing is planning to buy the site at the corner of Fortune Drive and Leigh Road so it can build a four-storey, 54-unit development, but the purchase is contingent on a successful rezoning.

A report prepared for council said the proposed building would provide homes for people who have experienced homelessness and need 24/7 support to maintain housing.

Information sessions held

On Monday, Jan. 27, BC Housing hosted three information sessions about the project, intended for neighbours and businesses near the site.

In an email to Castanet Kamloops, BC Housing said a total of 15 people attended the sessions. Attendees asked questions about who would operate the site, how it would be managed, and how its residents would be chosen.

BC Housing said the property will be staffed 24/7 with two or more employees on the site, will include well-lit and fenced grounds with camera monitoring and controlled entrances, and emergency call buttons will be installed for staff.

“There's a shortage of housing, there’s a crisis around everywhere. So it's really important that we do bring housing forward,” said BC Housing’s Dawn Himer.

But Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson and some councillors had questions about the effectiveness of the information sessions. Coun. Katie Neustaeter noted she heard the sessions may not have met neighbours’ needs — they might not have been on the right day, and the registration process appeared to be confusing for some.

Hamer-Jackson said he attended an evening meeting after stumbling upon the sessions by accident, and was concerned by information he heard suggesting the proposed facility wouldn’t ban substance use by its residents.

Carmin Mazzotta, the city’s acting director of community and culture, said while BC Housing would put out a request for proposals to identify an operator, certain agencies in the community have made it clear they plan to pursue supportive recovery housing.

“If I was a betting person, I would say that the operating models that come forward will not be pure harm reduction site per se, unless in the lens of recovery housing,” he said.

Coun. Bill Sarai said the information in Tuesday's meeting agenda suggested the opposite.

“It’s that unknown, and I think that’s what we’re struggling with here,” he said.

'Cognitive dissonance'

Council was reminded by staff multiple times that it should only make a decision on the rezoning application based on the proposed density increase for the properties at 285 Leigh Rd., 327 and 321 Fortune Dr., not any anticipated property use.

But some council members said they had trouble separating the rezoning request from potential development plans.

“The fact is, we are getting a tremendous amount of kickback from people in the community on this particular project,” said Coun. Kelly Hall.

“I struggle with the cognitive dissonance we're being asked to perform at this table,” added Neustaeter, who said she couldn’t pretend to not know about the project's potential community impact.

Coun. Nancy Bepple said she wanted to see the proposal move forward, as the concerns she’s heard so far aren’t things that would make her want to halt the process.

“I think the goal of council is actually to drive down the number of shelter beds — and this is a solution,” she said.

Hamer-Jackson, Neustaeter and Coun. Mike O’Reilly voted in opposition to issuing public notice for the rezoning application. O’Reilly said he had concerns over adding density without major upgrades to the nearby intersection at Fortune Drive, Leigh Road and Fort Avenue.

A further motion from Coun. Kelly Hall to organize a meeting with BC Housing was passed 8-1. O’Reilly was also opposed, saying he was concerned about liability and stepping out of bounds for the rezoning decision.

“It sounds like we’re going to make that land use decision based on what’s going to be operating there, and not the actual land use,” O’Reilly said.

Marvin Kwiatkowski, the city’s development, engineering and sustainability director, told Castanet Kamloops the rezoning application is tentatively expected to come back to council on March 4 for bylaw readings and adoption.

If the rezoning moves ahead, a development permit application will also be considered at a later date.

He cautioned council that if it denies the rezoning application, there's a strong possibility the province could override its decision, especially considering the city missed the mark on the first year of its provincially-mandated housing targets.