ALDERMEN WANT ZONING CHANGED FOR CITY CLINIC

A methadone clinic struggling to find a permanent home is still
searching for a new location, as city council today will debate ways
to make that search easier.

Second Chance Recovery, which is temporarily operating in a Braeside
strip mall, has had difficulty finding a place to operate after
neighbourhood concerns forced it from an industrial area in Highland
Park, and there were vocal protests to it opening in its current location.

After an angry public meeting in Braeside earlier this month, Second
Chance said it would leave the city, but reconsidered after what it
called an outpouring of support.

Hugh Ham, lawyer for the clinic, said it hasn't yet found a new home,
and is still trying to meet with the province, which has said it will help.

The only other methadone clinic in Calgary is operated by Alberta
Health Services at the Sheldon Chumir Centre.

Today, Ald. Brian Pincott and Ald. Diane Colley-Urquhart will ask
their colleagues to consider changes to the city's zoning bylaws,
including whether the clinics should have their own criteria and
whether they should be allowed in industrial areas, which they are
now excluded from.

"I think we can have to look at how we can do this better," said
Pincott, who tried to facilitate discussions between the Braeside
community and the clinic.

"Sadly, we need methadone clinics. How can we make sure we site them
appropriately and make sure the communities are informed and make
sure the clinics themselves are aware of community concerns and address them?

"What we saw with the methadone clinic trying to go into Braeside was
a failure of the entire system."

The clinic's location in Braeside is an allowed use, since it is a
medical clinic in a spot where medical clinics are allowed, but
neighbours were unhappy. Its previous location in Highland Park
wasn't an allowed use, because of the way industrial sites are zoned.
Neighbours there were also not pleased.

Ald. Bob Hawkesworth, who was involved in the Highland Park
discussions, said looking at the zoning is a good idea.

But he said it wouldn't have solved the issue in his ward, because
residents were concerned about the concentration of addiction
centres, with a new treatment facility already being built in the
neighbourhood.

He also believes Alberta Health Services has to take more of a
leadership role and ensure its addictions strategy includes the
clinics --which provide counselling and a daily dose of methadone to
clients trying to beat addictions to heroin, morphine and some
prescription painkillers.

"For Calgary to try to address this solely as a land use issue is
going to be futile," he said.

Pincott said the clinics are vital and providing information to
communities about how they operate and who its clientele is should
dispel much of the concern.

"It's engagement before the fact rather than after the fact," he
said, adding that good neighbour agreements should also be part of
any allowed methadone clinic, so communities know what they can
expect. "Let's get the real information and facts out on the table first."

Second Chance has about 500 clients using its Calgary clinic, and
also has three locations in Edmonton, as well as one each in Red
Deer, Medicine Hat and Lethbridge.