City Good Neighbour Agreement sparks debate at council table

Continued from page 1 contentious discussion at their June 26 meeting, councillors voted in favour of having staff work with Purpose Society to draw up a Good Neighbour Agreement and come up with the terms of reference

Moving

PARC for a community advisory committee for the facility

Councillors were split along party lines over whether that Good Neighbour Agreement should be a voluntary agreement as is the city’s current practice or whether it should be a formal agreement tied to the organization’s business licence.

The two NewWest Progressives councillors, Daniel Fontaine and Paul Minhas, argued in favour of tying the Good Neighbour Agreement to the

Business Licence

Fontaine questioned how the city could enforce a voluntary agreement

“We need the Good Neighbour Agreement to work, and we need this project to work for the community, and we need

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to take the time to get it right,” he said “Because if we don’t get it right tonight, you won’t be able to fix it ”

Fontaine said tying the agreement to issuance of a business licence would provide some comfort to neighbours after what he characterized as a “rushed” public input process

Fontaine and Minhas put forward numerous proposed amendments to the agreement, including a suggestion by Minhas that the business licence to operate the property be reviewed if there are six or more infractions to the agreement within a 12-month period

“I won’t support this. Where would these people go?They would lose their housing,” Coun Nadine Nakagawa objected. “We are borrowing so much trouble here We are presupposing so much about this type of housing.This is just a recipe for stigma, and I don’t support it ”

Also prompting objections from Nakagawa and her Community First New West colleagues was a proposed amendment by Minhas that called for 24hour security at the facility

Mayor Patrick Johnstone said the suggestion wasn’t in keeping with the idea of Good Neighbour Agreements being voluntary and based on mutual respect

“I find the idea of us requiring 24-7 security inside people’s homes abhorrent,” he said “People living in affordable housing are not criminals and should not be criminalized and should not be treated as people who can’t be trusted to live in their own homes without security”

In the end, Minhas’ and Fontaine’s motions were voted down 5-2, with Nakagawa, Johnstone, Jaimie McEvoy, Ruby Campbell andTasha Henderson voting against them

One of Fontaine’s amendments that minutes of community advisory committee meetings be available to council members on request passed.

Councillors said the project will help the city to meet its goals around affordable housing

“I believe community is expecting us to find safe, supportive ways to house people,” said Campbell

In the end, the related zoning amendment bylaw that paves the way for the facility received third reading by unanimous vote.