Agency aims to relocate detox centre from downtown to west Edmonton

A detox centre may be moving to Edmonton's west end from the inner city if an application to rezone a building on Stony Plain Road and 156th Street is approved.

The site is zoned to allow a health-care facility of up to 1,000 square metres, according to the city's rezoning web page, and the George Spady Society is applying to expand the size to 2,000 square metres.

"The intent is to provide in-patient medical treatment and out-patient services associated with addiction and detoxification," the site says.

George Spady's website says its current detox centre at 100st Street and 105A Avenue has 31 beds and offers medically assisted withdrawal services, including opioid therapy, managed medication, mental health referrals and medical and psychosocial assessments.

Representatives from George Spady declined to comment or provide details to CBC News on how many beds and clients the expanded facility would accommodate.

Andrew Knack, city councillor for Ward Nagota Isga, believes the facility would help people in the west end.

"The more sites like this where people can start to recover, that's only going to benefit everyone," Knack said in an interview with CBC news Monday.

The neighbourhood has been lacking services since Jasper Place Wellness Centre closed some of its services last year, including bridge housing.

People in the community consistently raise concerns about open drug use, Knack said.

"I'm getting those emails each and every day," Knack said. "I would much rather somebody in a medical facility get the care and support they need than be out in a park, out in the ravine where they're not getting care."

The rezoning application was part of a public hearing agenda on Monday that got postponed when the city cancelled council meetings this week at city hall.

The Stony Plain Road Business Association had concerns at first about a potential detox centre in the neighbourhood, said executive director Todd Janes.

Janes said the association met with George Spady and the City of Edmonton to understand the process a bit more.

"We really want a good balance of services and businesses and such," Janes said. "We were concerned that this was going to be a larger facility, a little bit more institutionalized,"

After some initial conversations, it became clearer that it would be a medical treatment facility, with people getting referred to programs, Janes said.

"It is primarily a detox program. So people who are at a point in their life where they're ready to access recovery, they would go here first, then they would be transitioned to a recovery program somewhere else."

Decentralizing services

Knack said the move would fulfil the city's goal of offering services for homelessness, mental health and addictions outside the inner core, where agencies have been clustered for many years.

"Broadly speaking, we do need more medical services and support services in the west end," Knack said.

The application is now likely to be listed on a public hearing agenda for Feb. 20.