The controversial Salvation Army complex on Montreal Road in Vanier overcame another hurdle on Friday when the Ottawa planning committee approved the site plan.
The residential and emergency reception plan has been available to the city for five years. He has faced a lot of criticism, including an appeal to the Town Planning Court, which was dismissed.
The design presented to the planning committee on Friday features an H-shaped complex with a four-story west wing, lowered from the original six floors, and a three-story east wing. The two wings would be connected by a two-story communal area.
The complex will have 211 beds, below the 350 initially proposed. Of these, 32 beds would be in support housing and 99 would be foster beds. An addiction program proposal has been removed from the plan.
Despite the changes, most of the public delegations at Friday’s meeting denounced the plan.
“We still don’t know what will happen in this space,” said Nathalie Carrier, executive director of Vanier BIA.
“The Vanier community has been debating all along that there should be housing and not shelters. Shelters should be the exception to the rule,” he said.
Carrier believes the Salvation Army is doubling the services already offered to the community, a view echoed by other service providers who spoke during Friday’s meeting.
Nathalie Carrier, executive director of the Vanier BIA, says she has unanswered questions about the type of programming that is planned for the installation. (Trevor Pritchard / CBC)
Carrier, who has been involved in the process as an interested party, accused the Salvation Army of having no real interest in collaborating with the community.
In response to a request for a Radio-Canada interview, the Salvation Army said it was unwilling to comment.
Marc Maracle, CEO of Gignul Non-Profit Housing Corporation, echoed some of Carrier’s concerns.
“The Indigenous community and the Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition have been very clear from the beginning and have maintained our concern for the scope and scale of the proposed facility and how it fits with the Vanier community,” he said.
“We also take the position that programming informs design, so what happens in this building will shape the spatial configuration and ultimately how it is expressed in the form of street design.”
Some in favor
Some delegations spoke in favor of the project.
“The design and layout of the site has been well-informed by the voices of the customers we serve, including our Indigenous customers,” said Wendy Muckle, executive director of Ottawa Inner City Health, which will provide services to the site.
“I would also suggest that of all the voices you hear today, perhaps the voices of the people who really need to access and use the facilities should be the most important.”
Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury says he will now focus on blocking any funding for the project. (Trevor Pritchard / CBC)
The plan does not require further approval by the council. City staff will now monitor any additional changes to the plan.
Coun. Mathieu Fleury, who is not running for re-election, said he would continue to fight the project by working with higher levels of government to block funding for what he called “obsolete reception models”.