Drop-In Centre's hotel conversion rejected by city planners

The Calgary Drop-In Centre's controversial proposal to turn a northeast hotel into an affordable housing complex was rejected by city planners Thursday, a move welcomed by the area's councillor, but one that will be appealed by the centre.

"I'm glad about the decision," said Coun. Sean Chu. "I'm very happy."

Chu has been an opponent of the Drop-In's approach to the project, criticizing the operators of the city's largest homeless shelter for pressing ahead with a development-permit application last year before doing more consultation with area residents.

In a written statement, the Drop-In's executive director Debbie Newman says the centre is disappointed with the ruling.

"We have invested significant resources and time to prepare a proposal that we feel meets the land use and re-uses an existing structure to provide affordable housing," she said.

"We are confident it is appropriate and meets the planning criteria so we will appeal the decision."

The Drop-In bought the former Quality Inn at 4804 Edmonton Trail in 2012 in a bankruptcy sale, with plans to turn it into a housing facility and immediately ran into opposition from people who live in the nearby communities.

The proposal for the building has gone through several iterations since, but the controversy never abated.

In 2014, the province announced it would rescind $5 million in funding for the project because the revised plans at that time, which aimed to convert the building into 120 units of "transitional housing" with a common eating area, no longer fit with the original criteria for the grant.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi has also been critical of the Drop In's approach to community engagement when it comes to this project.

'Lost all trust'

Earlier this year, the Drop-In revealed revised plans for the project, dubbed Centre 4800, that would see the hotel turned into a combination of 37 "assisted living" units for people transitioning out of homelessness plus another 42 "dwelling units," nine of which would be reserved for the homeless and the rest being open for rent by the general public.

But the Calgary Planning Commission voted that idea down Thursday, a move Chu described as "the right decision."

"The residents never once said that they don't want something there and they were actually very supportive until the Drop-In Centre lost all trust of the community," he said.

Newman says the centre worked hard to gain the trust of the community over the past three years and "circled back several times with changes that responded to the community input."

She says the outstanding issue is one of relationships, but that the project is a planning matter.

Newman says the organization is "anxious to work with a mediator to develop a good neighbour agreement," but that requires both sides to have "representatives with authority to make decisions and further be willing to participate in the mediation. We are ready and look forward to sitting down with the community."