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Nearly 100 people showed up on Sunday to protest the McCurdy Road supportive housing proposal and sign this poster opposing the project. (Caitlin Clow - Capital News)
Neighbours rally against ‘wet house’ ®
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Caitlin Clow Capital News Staff
Rutland residents turned out in droves last Sunday to protest Keowna’s latest supportive housing project. Chants of “keep Rutland safe” rang out from nearly 100 residents as cars drove by and honked in support as they passed the proposed side on McCurdy Road. Even passing police officers flicked on their patrol car sirens, tooted their horns and waved as they cruised by the fenced-off lot. “The reason we are gathered here today is because we are against a facility that does not have rules around drug and alcohol consumption within the proximity of the schools,” Chrissy Lwowski, a concerned resident said. Cannabis retail stores in Kelowna need to be 150 metres away from elementary schools and 500 metres from high schools and residents said
those same rules should apply for “wet” houses where drug and alcohol consuption is allowed on site. “This is not an appropriate site,” Lwowski said. “We have not run out of land in Kelowna. “The last we had all heard was this was a dry facility coming in, so we’re all pretty alarmed that it has come through the way that it has and we’re not OK with it.” A previous development proposed for the site was housing for graduates of the Freedom’s Door drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. But when funding from the province did not come through for that project, it was dropped and the site picked up by BC Housing for the current supportive housing project. City council approved the required rezoning for the property when Freedom’s Door made its proposal in 2017. On Monday, it voted to approve the form and character of BC Housing’s design and approved a
development permit for the project. Coun. Charlie Hodge was the only councillor who voted against the form and character and development permit. “This project is not the project it was,” he said. “So, it’s a tough decision.” Christopher Bocskei, a coach, community volunteer, someone who said he has experienced homelessness and protest organizer, said he knows these facilities are necessary for addicts, vulnerable and at-risk individuals. But he doesn’t want it to be this close to kids. “Drugs will go up, crime will go up, it’s a problem waiting to happen,” Bocskei said. “We’re trying to save our kids here, we’re trying to save our community.” He suggested a better location for a facility of the size and type proposed would be across the street from the RCMP detachment on Clement Avenue.
Bocskei said the 49-unit development would offer 49 opportunities to have students exposed to, or perhaps even addicted to, substances. “It is incumbent on the operator, BC Housing and the province to ensure this functions successfully,” said Coun. Brad Sieben. A petition was started and shared online June 21 and has garnered more than 2,600 names. Kelowna-Lake Country MLA Norm Letnick has called on B.C.’s housing minister to “pause” the project until issues at two other Kelowna supportive housing facilities are resolved. “The people of Rutland are very generous and caring and have done more than their fair share when it comes to housing the hardest to house,” Letnick said in his open letter. A public information meeting will be held on June 26 at Rutland Centennial Hall, 5:30 p.m.
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