Cranbrook City Council has voted in favour of pushing back a planned public hearing to rezone a building to allow for a year-round homeless shelter, but no date has been given yet.
In early December, City Council approved the first two readings of an amendment proposed by BC Housing to convert the old Core Fitness building into a full-time homeless shelter.
Originally, a public hearing was planned for January 18th, but during a meeting on January 4th, City Council chose to delay it.
“We don’t have all the information, and we haven’t explored all the opportunities, which we owe that to the citizens of Cranbrook, our business community and to the safety of the community. We owe that to make sure that we’ve done our due diligence,” said Mayor Lee Pratt.
Pratt added that the City had some communication with BC Housing regarding the rezoning, but feels the hearing should be delayed until more information is given about the project.
Mayor Pratt was one of four Council members who voted in favour of delaying the public hearing
Councilor Norma Blissett voted against the motion, saying the issue should be dealt with sooner rather than later.
“We are in a crisis position in this town, we have people that are homeless that are being dealt with by City staff, the Library and the business community. We are abnegating our responsibilities to our community by not servicing the people of our community,” said Blissett. “It’s a bad look for Cranbrook when you drive through this town and you see burned out buildings and numerous homeless people out on the street because there’s nowhere to go. We talk about how we want our community to look open for business, and that is a drive-through, pedal to the metal message.”
The vote was split four to three in favour of delaying the hearing.
The delay will go on until a meeting can be held between the City of Cranbrook and BC Housing, with a hearing date to be announced.
Previous: Cranbrook approves public hearing for year-round shelter (Dec. 9, 2020)