HOME NOT WELCOME: RESIDENTS

Newton residents are readying for battle as a huge recovery home
project heads to public hearing on Monday.

Liz Walker, and many others, were handing out pamphlets on Wednesday,
encouraging locals to appear at city hall's regular council meeting Oct. 5.

At issue is Welcome Home, a 72-unit private facility for drug and
alcohol recovery, planned for 6925 King George Highway. The first
phase, being considered Monday, is a 36-unit facility, which is
expected to eventually double in size.

Walker says more there are more questions than answers regarding the
facility, which she says is too large for "anyone's backyard."

Spokesman Bil Koonar said Welcome Home will provide a much-needed
service in the city.

Drug addicts and alcoholics wanting to break their addictive cycle
would stay up to four years, away from the environment that kept them
using. Slowly, they'll be given added responsibilities, and shown how
to make better decisions. Part of that process will be getting them
involved in volunteer work in the community, Koonar said.

He said one of the biggest myths in the community is that clients
would be wandering around the neighbourhood.

In the Welcome Home setting, client containment will be much easier
than in a more traditional recovery house setting, he said.

Some, including Surrey's mayor, are concerned about the scope of the project.

Koonar said there is a similar facility in San Fransisco housing 500
people in the midst of a residential setting, and another in New York
with 200 in an upscale nieghbourhood.

The project is being funded by philanthropist John Volken, who said
the $20-million recovery community will have a host of necessary
amenities, including classrooms, an on-site dentist and gymnasium,
along with a store where they'll work.

Volken is also selling his $5.5-million West Vancouver mansion to
live in the Surrey treatment centre.

Residents in the area say they're fed up with becoming a dumping
ground for social service facilities, including Surrey's largest
homeless shelter, situated only two blocks away from Welcome Home.

The public hearing begins at city hall at 7 p.m.