Pubdate: Mon, 01 Nov 2004 Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 Vancouver Courier Contact: http://www.vancourier.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474 Author: Naoibh O'Connor Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) SCHOOL BOARD WADES INTO REHAB CENTRE DEBATE The Vancouver School Board won't try to derail a proposed 39-unit drug recovery centre for the mentally ill near John Oliver secondary and Mackenzie elementary schools. Triage Emergency Services Society, along with the city and Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, wants to open the four-storey facility at 5616 Fraser St. despite widespread opposition from neighbouring residents and business owners-hundreds of whom showed up at John Oliver for two public meetings in early October. COPE trustee Allen Wong also attended. Last Tuesday, Wong told the school board's planning and facilities committee about the meeting, and members agreed to draw up a letter to city council indicating the recovery centre does not constitute an "incompatible land use" near a school. According to board policy, incompatible land uses may result in increased traffic, litter, truancy concerns, changes in pedestrian habits, undesirable clientele, or other potential safety or health hazards. Land uses or proposed changes may include commercial or retail activities, such as neighbourhood pubs or pornographic theatres, traffic measures, and controversial public or special residential facilities. "Given we're a caring and tolerant, compassionate society, we deemed it not to be incompatible," Wong told the Courier Thursday. But the letter infuriated Bill Ritchie, who recently opened a bookstore on the 5700 block of Fraser and lives on the 5700 block of Main. Ritchie fired off his own letter to board chair Adrienne Montani, arguing parents who object to the proposal should have been given the opportunity to present their concerns to trustees before a letter was drafted. "This [planning and facilities] meeting was about endorsing it as a social program. I don't think it should be the VSB talking about the social agenda," Ritchie said. In his letter, Ritchie said parents opposed to the recovery centre are not "a bunch of 'not in my neighbourhood' bigots" but instead "a group of concerned parents." Montani, who lives in the neighbourhood near the proposed recovery centre, said the letter will urge the city and Triage to ensure the complex minimizes neighbourhood fears about the safety of their children. "This, if done well, shouldn't be an incompatible use," she said, arguing the community is at greater risk if such residential facilities don't exist. Montani also noted the letter isn't meant as an approval. "I don't think it's our place to endorse it or not-it's a city process," she said. Ritchie maintains that the board went beyond its authority by coming up with what he sees as an unsolicited opinion on the issue. "If you want to get involved, you better have your constituents' opinions," he said. "They forget that there's a petition out there [against the proposal] signed by all those parents." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek