COMMUNITY EMBRACES DRUG ADDICTION CENTRE

'Good Neighbour' Pact Paves Way For New Facility

A northeast community that once banished a controversial methadone
clinic from the neighbourhood has now paved the way for an addiction
centre in the same location.

On Thursday, the Highland Park and Thorncliffe-Greenview community
associations signed a "good neighbour" agreement with the Fresh Start
Addiction Society.

The pact is the first of its kind in Calgary and sets out the
expectations of behaviour between the community and the agency, and
allows for a conflict resolution process.

The document, which followed exhaustive dialogue between the
communities and the addiction society, is also meant to quell NIMBY
fears that have plagued similar attempts to move social agencies into
new communities, city officials said.

On Thursday, Marvin Quashnick of the Thorncliffe-Greenview Community
Association said the new approach shows that good relationships can
be built between communities and social agencies moving into the neighbourhood.

"We have a clear idea of what to expect as a community from the
operation," Quashnick said.

In February, the Second Chance Recovery Centre was forced to move out
of the area after neighbours complained it moved into a building on
41st Avenue N.E. without warning and without proper permits.

The methadone clinic has struggled to find a permanent home and is
now facing appeals to keep its doors closed at its current location
in the Foothills Industrial Park.

The new Fresh Start building, a 50-bed residential treatment centre,
is next door to the old methadone clinic site in Highland Park.

Quashnick said community consultation has made the difference in
Fresh Start's case.

Although dialogue was initially "tumultuous" once residents learned
of the addiction centre's planned presence--particularly among the
handful of residents living nearest the otherwise industrial location
- -- the good neighbour agreement has helped calm any fears, Quashnick said.

That's exactly what Fresh Start hoped to accomplish when it launched
the process after acquiring land in the community in 2007.

"Most communities are passionate and want to know what's coming into
their communities--and rightly so," said the centre's executive
director, Stacey Petersen.

"The key to the success of this was that we engaged the community
before we had anything in place."

A fundraising campaign is underway to raise additional money for the
centre, but work has already started on the site, which is expected
to be finished by next fall or spring 2011, Petersen said.

"We hope this good neighbour agreement will serve as a flagship in
the city for other agencies to set up in communities," he said.

Indeed, several new agreements are already in the works, said Paul
Cochrane, manager of citywide and inter-municipal planning, land use
planning and policy.

The good neighbour document isn't legally binding, but it is a
helpful communication tool, he said.

"I think it's a possibility for a whole range of uses for situations
that can cause concerns out there," Cochrane said.