Brian Lester of the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection, a partner in the project along with the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) and City of London, says they’re hoping the Ministry of Health will make a decision on whether to fund the service that would be delivered at 446 York St. “as soon as possible.”
If the ministry decides to support the plan, Lester says they would then need capital funding from the province to move ahead with retro-fitting the site. He’s hoping the location could open its doors by October 2021.
The dismissal of the appeal is another hurdle passed in what’s been a long journey toward a permanent supervised consumption facility for London, which medical officer of health Dr. Chris Mackie once described as a “mid-sized city with a big-city drug problem.”
Ontario declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency in late 2017 and soon after, the MLHU announced it was searching for a location for a supervised consumption facility. London’s temporary overdose prevention site (TOPS) — the first of its kind in the province — opened February 2018 on King Street, but the facility was always meant to be an interim measure while the city moved forward with plans to open a permanent facility.
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“(The King Street location) is approximately 1000 square feet. It is too small,” Lester explained.
“And Regional HIV/AIDS Connection as a whole, we’ve outgrown the space and we’ve always had an intention to relocate. To situate the site that’s closer to 4,000 square feet is just going to increase and enhance our capacity to deliver the program in the most effective way possible.”
London city council had approved rezoning 446 York St. in December 2018, allowing for the site, formerly the home of John Bellone Musical Instruments, to be retrofitted into a permanent supervised consumption facility. In late November 2019, the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) dismissed appeals filed in opposition to the rezoning. The July 3, 2020, decision from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice divisional court upholds the tribunal’s decision.
“Regional HIV/AIDS Connection and the many supporters of the Carepoint (formerly TOPS) program are very pleased with the decision,” Lester told Global News.
“Across Canada, including London, Ont., we continue to face the devastating impacts of the opioid crisis. Approximately 11 Canadians die each day from overdose. The Carepoint program has demonstrated its capacity to effectively respond to the crisis by preventing hundreds of overdoses while helping marginalized individuals connect to the health care system, including addiction treatment and counselling, primary care, HIV testing, housing and many other supports.”
Lester says he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the Ministry of Health will “look at all of our due diligence work to situate the site at 446 York St.,” noting that the landlord is in full support of the site and that the location is in an area “where the issues already do present” and the site is large enough to properly provide wraparound support services.
He’s hoping that if the ministry gives the go-ahead, a permanent facility could open at 446 York St. by October 2021.
“Maybe it’ll be sooner, hopefully not later than that.”
In the meantime, the temporary site will continue to operate.
The initial appeal to the LPAT involved four groups: Drewlo Holdings, Northview Apartment REIT, Burwell Auto Body Ltd., and Lance Howard Group. Drewlo owns an apartment tower along King Street that is located immediately behind 446 York St., while Burwell Auto Body is located across the street. Lance Howard Group owns an office building next door at 444 York St.
In a one-day hearing at the end of October 2019, lawyer and LPAT member, Blair Taylor, heard arguments from legal counsel representing the four appellants, the city, and the Middlesex-London Health Unit and Regional HIV/AIDS Connection. According to Taylor, the case was the first time the tribunal or its predecessor, the Ontario Municpal Board (OMB), has considered a supervised consumption facility.
The applicants argued that the bylaw amendment allowing for the site “did not comply with the 1989 Official Plan,” which designated the location as “Office/Residential” and permitted clinics as a “secondary ‘accessory’ use to the main office and residential use.” The applicants argued the facility’s main use is “illicit drug consumption” and the wrap-around support services are the secondary use.
Lawyer Analee Baroudi also argued the site was too close to schools and daycare facilities, including H.B. Beal Secondary School, Childreach, London Bridge Child Care (LBCC), and the YMCA.
In his written decision, Taylor ruled the “impugned” zoning amendment conformed with the city’s 1989 official plan, and was also consistent with the Provincial Planning Statement, 2014, in that it would assist in addressing, rather than causing, “environmental or public health and safety concerns.”
Taylor said the Tribunal found a facility at the location will be a “positive step to bettering public health and reducing safety issues to the community at large.”
According to superior court documents, the appeal of the tribunal’s ruling, heard June 11, 2020, centred on the question of whether the bylaw amendment conforms to the 1989 official plan, noting that while London city council passed a new official plan, it is largely under appeal and therefore not currently in effect.
In dismissing the appeal in a decision made public July 3, 2020, Justice Kelly Tranquilli noted that “official plans are not statutes” and that the tribunal should give the plan “a broad liberal interpretation with a view to furthering its policy objectives.” Tranquilli also noted that the official plan “expressly contemplates that not all uses can be identified at the time of the writing of the Plan.”
— with files from Global News’ Matthew Trevithick and Sawyer Bogdan.
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