METHDADONE CLINIC WILLING TO DEAL

But Owner Claims City Didn't Move Quick Enough

OSHAWA - The owner of a downtown methadone clinic says he was willing to
negotiate a move to a different location but the City didn't make enough of
an effort.

First Step Medical Clinic, which treats addicts using methadone, had been
operating from a King Street West location just outside the downtown for
the last five years.

An attempt by the clinic to move to a downtown location on Simcoe Street
South just north of King was blocked by City council when several
councillors claimed methadone treatment is associated with a host of social
problems they do not want downtown. Council then imposed an interim control
bylaw and began a study on whether methadone clinics are appropriate in the
downtown central business district. However, in August the Ontario
Municipal Board (OMB) overturned the bylaw claiming there was no planning
rationale for council's decision. Council has subsequently appealed that
decision.

This Week has learned that on Sept. 11, lawyers representing the clinic
sent a letter to the solicitor hired by the City stating they were fully
prepared to explore the possibility of a resolution whereby the clinic
would move to a new location fitting certain conditions.

First Step requested the new location be an office or commercial space
ensuring patients a positive environment, a location that is near or on
both regional and local public transit routes, and one that is 1,800 to
2,000 square feet at a price equal to the Simcoe Street location.

The letter also asked the City to agree to purchase or find a buyer for the
Simcoe Street location at the price paid by First Step and that the City
reimburse any wasted transaction and carrying costs First Step incurred.
First Step also asked the City to reimburse all legal costs associated with
the Ontario Municipal Board hearings and court proceedings as a part of the
relocation agreement.

On Sept. 12 First Step president Fred Lorusso then followed up by sending a
letter to the mayor and all members of council suggesting a meeting between
himself and a representative of the City be held to begin negotiations.

In an interview Wednesday Mr. Lorusso said he was never personally
contacted by any members of council or any representatives from the City to
begin the negotiations. He said pressures from his previous landlord forced
him to go ahead with renovations at the Simcoe Street site and the
subsequent move. First Step opened the doors at its new location last Monday.

Mr. Lorusso said the City's lawyers did contact his representatives
advising them staff was asked to find suitable alternate locations, but in
the absence of any further action or phone calls by the City or their legal
representatives he assumed they either did not want to negotiate or could
not find a suitable location. He then went ahead with his plans to move
into the Simcoe Street South address.

"Nobody came to me at all," he said in an interview Thursday. "If they were
willing I would have hoped they would have come to the table and seriously
negotiated a settlement, but they didn't. Nobody called me at all and I was
forced to move on."

Councillor Louise Parkes, one of the City's more vocal opponents to the
clinic's move downtown, said council did receive correspondence from Mr.
Lorusso and his lawyer. She said they dealt with it at a confidential
meeting closed to the press and public and directed their lawyer to negotiate.

"We said we wanted him (the City's lawyer) to get in touch with their
lawyers and begin discussions," she said.

Mayor Nancy Diamond also confirmed council received the letters and
directed their lawyer to follow up on them adding that since that time they
haven't heard anything back.

A representative from the City's lawyers said any correspondence from them
stating they were looking at suitable locations should have been taken as a
sign they were willing to negotiate.

Mayor Diamond suggested a settlement might have been reached in a more
timely fashion if council had asked City staff to begin negotiations
instead of asking the lawyers to go ahead. She also said council may have
been able to exercise more control and the process would have been more
flexible if it were handled in house.

In regards to First Step's request for legal, transaction, and carrying
costs Mayor Diamond suggested that may have proved a stumbling block in
negotiations because it would have been quite expensive for the City, which
she estimates has already spent upwards of $300,000 in the battle over the
clinic's relocation.

However, Mr. Lorusso said the relocation agreement would not have hinged on
a costs settlement since he is confident the City would be still be forced
to cover First Step's costs, either through an OMB award or through future
civil litigation.

The clinic opened at the Simcoe Street location Monday and Mr. Lorusso said
that would make a negotiated relocation even more difficult to achieve
adding the up to $75,000 in renovation costs First Step has incurred would
now have to be considered.