'It's a beautiful space': Boyle Street secures permit for new location, despite community outcry
After having its development permit revoked amid public backlash, the leader of Boyle Street Community Services says the agency has a green light to move to a better building.
Last year, 15 groups, including a pair of community leagues and the Victoria School of the Arts Parents Coalition, opposed the permit for a new location in The King Thunderbird Centre.
That building is at the corner of 107A Avenue and 101 Street, about two blocks north of the current location overlooking Rogers Place.
The Subdivision Appeal Board (SDAB) revoked the permit following a hearing on Nov. 10, but after Boyle Street removed certain features like the kitchen, the project was back on track Tuesday.
"It's a beautiful space and it's a statement, I think, to the people that we serve that they matter in our community," said executive director Jordan Reiniger.
"Our current facility on 105 Avenue is quite literally crumbling. There's a lot of infrastructure challenges, it was a banana ripening warehouse, so it's just not meant to do what we're trying to do in there."
Boyle Street provides help to homeless people in Edmonton, including mental health services, cultural support and holiday meals.
The McCauley Community League opposed the new development permit citing improper zoning, some residents had safety concerns and several groups in Chinatown argued the move was a chance to spread out services for vulnerable people to different parts of the city.
“There is a level of social disorder that we see with these agencies that are in the area,” said Hon Leong of the Chinatown Transformation Collaborative Society last summer.
“I would look at it as the first opportunity to act upon [city council's] mission, which is to decentralize social services in this area.”
The Oilers Entertainment Group bought the current Boyle Street building in 2021 and the agency has since raised $22 million of its $28.5 million goal for the new centre.
"It's been a long journey for us to find the right facility for us to get the project going," Reiniger said.
"We've had a lot of hoops to jump through, and so, to be at this place today, we're celebrating and really excited about where we're at and the future of this project."
Boyle Street hopes to open the new facility in 2024 and is fundraising to make it happen.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Matt Woodman and Adam Lachacz
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.