Correspondence: Rezoning Application for 94 Talcott Road from Our Place Society

RE: Therapeutic Recovery Community Rezoning Application – 94 Talcott Road

I am pleased to submit to you a rezoning application for the purpose of rezoning 94 Talcott Road to enable the operation of a Therapeutic Recovery Community. Our Place Society has been operating the Choices Transitional Housing facility at the site for the past two years, and it is now closed. With the leadership of the Town of View Royal and the support of the neighbourhood residents, 103 of our society’s most vulnerable men and women moved from Choices into permanent housing as of March 31. Our Place would like to thank the Town of View Royal and residents for allowing this temporary facility.

As you are aware, for several years, Our Place has been exploring in detail examples of therapeutic treatment facilities with the goal of restoring lives. Moving forward, and subject to this rezoning, our vision for 94 Talcott Road (former Youth Correctional Centre) is to create a long-term Therapeutic Recovery Community that fosters individual change and promotes positive growth to help individuals return to society to lead productive lives. A Therapeutic Recovery Community provides a long-term recovery program in a safe, structured, therapeutic environment and is needed for those who have been unable to break the homelessness / incarceration cycle. A therapeutic community provides a cost effective path to recovery, and addresses the comprehensive, holistic, biopsycho-social, and ecological perspective of addiction, homelessness, and criminality.

A Therapeutic Recovery Community offers a community-based approach to recovery in a closed residential community. Residents in the Therapeutic Recovery Community will be committed to changing their lives and have a responsibility to hold both themselves and others accountable. A professional treatment team will guide and support members through the program. Therapeutic Communities provide a cost effective path to recovery and have a singular purpose of preventing and treating disordered lives by bringing together the most effective research, prevention and treatment resources to further the vision that change is possible and that we are all agents of this human obligation.

Residents of the Therapeutic Recovery Community will be selected based on their assessed ability to succeed in this program. No individuals who have committed arson, serious violence or sexual crimes will be accepted into the program. Therapeutic Recovery Community residents will be primarily residents from the Capital Regional District, including local First Nations.

Key aspects of the Therapeutic Recovery Community at 94 Talcott Road will include:

• Home to 50 people at any one time, with stays ranging from 12-24 months.
• Open only to males who are experiencing homelessness and interacting with the criminal justice system.
• Residents are highly motivated for change and are voluntary participants in a highly structured and demanding daily schedule.
• All admissions to the Therapeutic Recovery Community will be subject to a rigorous application and interview process, which will allow staff to assess treatment readiness to ensure applicants are suitable candidates for the program.
• Residents are empowered and required to take responsibility using community as method.
• Social enterprises (e.g. gardening, baking, woodworking, etc.) provide focus and skill development and help support the financial bottom line of the community.
• Program is delivered in a closed, abstinence-based environment.
• No guests are permitted and residents can only leave the premises when accompanied by staff or designates.
• On-site medical treatment team will include psychiatrist, doctors, counsellors and nurses.

Therapeutic Recovery Communities are a successful approach to individual recovery and allow residents to change their lives and become contributing members of the larger community. Therapeutic Recovery Communities are located around the world, including in BC. They have impressive outcomes. The San Patrignano Therapeutic Community in Italy reports full recovery for more than 72% of residents who complete the program.

Through the community consultation process (documented below) and in discussions with View Royal staff and residents, we have fielded numerous questions about the Therapeutic Recovery Community. Our experience to date suggests there is significant support for the proposed model and program, and there is broad recognition that a supportive recovery model in a secure environment is the right approach for the population being served. Attached as an Appendix to this letter is a Frequently Asked Questions document that addresses the interests and concerns we have heard to date.

Rezoning 94 Talcott Road

Unlike so many other programs, residents in the Therapeutic Recovery Community are active both in the process of running the community (e.g. cooking, cleaning, administration, social enterprise) and the recovery process of all residents (e.g. peer support, leadership, group dynamics and structured routines). This has implications for our rezoning proposal.

The former Youth Correctional Facility at 94 Talcott Road offers an ideal opportunity to house this innovative and successful model and Our Place has received support from BC Housing and Island Health to open the Therapeutic Recovery Community at this location following a successful rezoning. 94 Talcott Road meets the needs of a Therapeutic Recovery Community in the following ways:

• It is a self-contained facility with individual bedrooms, commercial kitchen, offices, meetings rooms, workshops, gymnasium and large courtyard.
• It is centrally located in the region, providing easy access for medical treatment personnel and for residents to get to off-site appointments and work placements during the final stage of their community integration.
• It is outside of the downtown core providing physical separation from its street influences of drugs and criminality.
• The zoning for the site matches closely the intended use of a mix of residential with accessory commercial uses.
• The Official Community Plan designates the site for a Community Facility.
• It is set apart from the adjacent residential community by Craigflower Creek and the Galloping Goose greenway.

The current P-4 Regional Institutional zone allows for both primary and accessory uses. Accessory uses must not exceed more than 25% of the floor area of the primary uses. To accommodate the Our Place Society Therapeutic Recovery Community proposal, one additional primary use is proposed.

The Therapeutic Recovery Community model is unique in that it is not just a place of living and treatment. It is also a place where residents use work as part of the individual recovery process, and to develop skills and experience that will facilitate integration back into the larger community. Those work activities, or social enterprise initiatives, emerge based on the skills and interests of the residents. The mix of social enterprises is different within each Therapeutic Recovery Community around the world.

Given the location, configuration and facilities at 94 Talcott Road the vision for the Therapeutic Recovery Community includes a potential a mix of:

• Growing fruits, vegetables, and the limited keeping of bees and chickens for consumption by the residents and to sell at farmers markets, restaurants or retail establishments.
• Producing pre-made meals, preserves, baked goods or other food stuffs in the commercial kitchen for consumption by the residents and sale through cafes, restaurants or retail establishments.
• Operating a bicycle, furniture, or small appliance repair shop.
• Operating a small-moves moving company
• Producing furniture, wooden toys, First Nations art, jewellery or other crafts or arts for sale through public markets, retail establishments or internet sales.

While not part of the initial vision for Therapeutic Recovery Community, Our Place does believe that in the future it may, in accordance with the existing and proposed zoning for accessory uses, operate a small retail operation (e.g. market garden sales), cafe, restaurant or service store depending how the different social enterprises evolve.

Our Place is applying to have the Therapeutic Recovery Community registered as an Assisted Living Residence under the Community Care and Assisted Living Act. The distinction between a Community Care Facility and an Assisted Living Residence is determined by provincial statutes and officials. It is possible that the facility or part of the facility at 94 Talcott Road may be designated a Community Care Facility in future. For that reason, we have included both these aspects within our proposed definition for “Therapeutic Recovery Community.” This means the Therapeutic Recovery Community could be a licensed or registered facility, but another type Community Care Facility or Assisted Living Residence would not be permitted.

For the uses without a definition in the Zoning Bylaw we propose:

“Therapeutic Recovery Community” means staffed facility providing residential rooms and treatment by health care professionals, along with shared cooking and eating facilities and ancillary common areas, offices, meeting rooms, exercise space, workshops and may also include social enterprise activities that may include market garden, craft and artisan trades, commercial kitchen, service store and other permitted accessory uses. A Therapeutic Recovery Community may be a licensed Community Care Facility or registered as an Assisted Living Residence under the Community Care and Assisted Living Act.”

“Market Garden” means production of fruits, vegetables and flowers for consumption on-site or sale, includes the storage of products harvested on-site and machinery, implements and supplies required for the market garden and the use of greenhouses or other small garden buildings, and may also include the keeping of up to 8 bee hives and up to 50 chickens, but no roosters. Keeping of chickens is permitted provided the henhouses are not in the front yard, are sited at least 3 m from any property line and no chickens slaughtered on site.”

“Craft and Artisan Trades” means creating and making things by hand that may be functional or strictly decorative and includes, but is not limited to, such things as furniture, decorative arts, jewellery, household items, sculptures, paintings, clothing and tools.

“Commercial Kitchen” means producing food products, including baked goods, for sale at markets, to restaurants, directly to consumers or in retail establishments.

Vehicle and Bicycle Parking

Currently the Town of View Royal Zoning Bylaw does not specify a parking requirement for either of the two existing primary uses (Technical or Vocational Schools, Youth-Oriented Correctional Institution). There are 54 parking stalls on site and given the size of the building (4,180 m2) we surmise the parking requirement for the Youth-Oriented Correctional Institution would have been based on the number of youth in custody or had a parking requirement ratio of 1 per 72 m2 of floor area.

There is a 6 stall bike rack near the front door of the building, a bike rack in the courtyard and bike lock-up area that will be available for TRC staff to use or TRC residents in the final, re-integration phase.

Therapeutic Recovery Community Requirement Vehicle Parking

We believe the appropriate rate for this use is 1 stall per 3 beds. For a 50 bed Therapeutic Recovery Community this would mean a requirement of 17 stalls.

This is sufficient because:

• Residents are not permitted to have cars
• The facility will be staffed by 3 shifts over a 24 period
• The daytime shift will be highest use period and would include
  • 1 Director
  • Up to 2 doctors
  • 1 nurse
  • Up to 3 counsellors
  • Up to 3 support staff
• Family visitation would occur on weekends when clinical and administration staff are not present. Family visitation is also not permitted for those residents in the orientation phase (approximately 1/3 of residents).

We note the District of Saanich parking requirement for Personal Care Homes, Extended Care Homes and Group Homes with lodging it is 1 for every 3 beds. These are also uses where residents are supported by professional staff and where residents do not have their own cars.

The table below documents the implications of applying the proposed parking requirement to the proposal. There remains significant excess capacity. Should additional public servicing accessory uses be associated with the Therapeutic Recovery Community then building permits for building renovations and / or change of use will be required, and Our Place will have to demonstrate to View Royal at the time that there remains sufficient parking for those accessory uses.

Community Consultation

Our Place Society has been learning about Therapeutic Communities for a number of years. Following a period of extensive research and tours of other facilities, we established a Community Advisory Group in 2015 to help guide us through establishing a facility in the CRD. The Advisory Group is comprised of:

• Ian Batey, Co-Chair, Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness
• Neal Berger, Cedars at Cobble Hill Residential Treatment Programs
• Cheryl Damstetter, Island Health
• Teri DuTemple, Warden, Nanaimo Correctional Centre
• Peter Fitzpatrick, Warden, Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre
• Dominic Flanagan, BC Housing
• Lisa Helps, Mayor, City of Victoria
• Fran Hunt-Jinnouchi, Executive Director, Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness
• Del Manak, Police Chief, Victoria Police Department
• Ernie Quantz, Judge, Victoria Integrated Court
• Kelly Reid, Island Health
• Kelly Sinclair, Vancouver Island Community Corrections
• Bill Young, retired, (formerly BC Corrections)

Additional community engagement and consultation activities have included;

• Media engagement on the concept of Therapeutic Recovery Community began with interviews on CBC, CFAX, CHEK, CTV, Global TV, Times Colonist and Black Press in conjunction with the opening of the Overdose Prevention Site in 2016.
• We developed a project brief and plan and introduced the concept to funders and partners in 2017.
• We introduced the idea to Choices Neighbourhood Advisory Group in March of 2017 and have had a number of discussions on the topic with this group since.
• Two community engagement meetings were held in the spring of 2017 to introduce the community to the concept and receive feedback. One was held at Choices, while the other was held at Eagle View Elementary.
• We announced our project and rezoning intent at the Choices Gratitude Dinner on March 14th, 2018.
• Distributed information letter to demonstrate the difference between the Choices facility and the Therapeutic Recover Community to 800 neighbourhood residents. The letter also provided notice of the upcoming Open Houses (attached).
• Held Open Houses at 94 Talcott Road on April 5th from 5 pm – 8 pm and April 28th from 1 pm to 4pm. We had a total of 40 people visit the property, take tours of the facility, view the 14 information panels (attached) and ask many questions. Not one visitor expressed opposition to the proposals and many were enthusiastically in support.
• Met with the Principal of Eagle View Elementary School to discuss the project.
• Distributed project information to the Eagle View Elementary administration and Parent Advisory Committee.
• Placed an advertisement for the Open House in the Goldstream Gazette (the ad ran twice).
• Media engagement to promote the Open House included: CBC radio, CFAX radio, Times Colonist, Goldstream Gazette, CHEK TV and CTV.

Through these efforts we have been able to answer many questions and explain our vision. We recognize that residents require and deserve transparent and open access as well as time to understand a new concept, and to have their concerns and questions addressed. The vast majority of people we have engaged with have been supportive and recognize the important need the Therapeutic Recovery Community will be serving.

We are committed to working with the neighbourhood and the Town of View Royal to ensure successful, respectful and secure presence in the neighbourhood.

Additional follow up consultation activities will include:

• Establishing a Neighbourhood Advisory Group for the Therapeutic Recovery Community (in progress)
• Follow up with residents who have requested more information.
• Posting project information on our website: story boards from the Open Houses and Frequently Asked Questions
• Attending the Eagle View Elementary Spring Fair,
• Hand delivering project update and inviting residents for an information update session in early 2018
• Proactive media engagement to further educate the broad region on the importance of this project.

Conclusion

We are committed to being good neighbours and believe the Therapeutic Recovery Community is an excellent re-purposing of the majority of the Youth Correctional Facility. For the foreseeable future there will be a small youth corrections element for youth waiting to be transferred to other facilities which will continue to be run by Corrections. We will make a positive, permanent use of the rest of the facility.

The Therapeutic Recovery Community is dedicated to restoring health, dignity and sense of purpose in those who are committed to making a positive change in their lives. This type of facility is desperately needed in the region and 94 Talcott Road is an excellent location for it.

We look forward to presenting our application to you and the community.

Thank you and warm regards,

Don Evans, Executive Director