Wondering why we're debating 372 vs. 120 York St. for consumption site?
CBC News | Posted: April 12, 2018 7:29 PM | Last Updated: April 12, 2018
Here's the timeline for how two addresses for the supervised consumption facility ended up on the table
At first, it seemed like a typo.
After all, only weeks earlier, the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) announced they had selected 372 York St. as the preferred location for a supervised consumption facility (SCF) in London.
The MLHU said the location across from the London Free Press building was selected after a thorough consultation process. It was also part of an application already submitted to Health Canada, a process needed to create the legal exemption that allows a safe consumption site to operate.
Then at a public consultation meeting on Monday, April 9 another address — 120 York St. — was presented as a second site option. This time there was no news release or official announcement, causing some at the meeting to wonder whether someone at MLHU had their York Street addresses mixed up.
But in an interview with CBC News, MLHU's CEO and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Chris Mackie said the new location was not a mistake and that 120 York St. became an option because "the landlord there felt it was a really good fit."
The phone call
The landlord who suggested 120 York St. is the same person who owns it: Shmuel Farhi, of Farhi Holdings Corporation.
Farhi owns scores of commercial properties in London, including many in the downtown core. Days prior to MLHU's announcement about 372 York St., Farhi had announced his intention to transform the London Free Press building across the street into one of the largest entrepreneurship hubs in the province.
Almost immediately after the health unit announced their choice, Farhi called MLHU officials to suggest his building at 120 York St. would be a better fit.
Here's how Mackie explains it:
"Obviously this is someone who has a real interest in shifting the location away from 372 York, so it wasn't surprising that he would do whatever he could to help that be an option."
Mackie said having another option on the table was "a real positive from my perspective."
Calls to Farhi's office for comment on Thursday were not returned.
Council committee to weigh in
The 120 York Street location is in a retail plaza at the intersection of Talbot Street, kitty corner from the Greyhound bus station. Some business owners who spoke to CBC News after the April 9 meeting raised concerns that a safe consumption site there could have a negative effect on a section of downtown that has made positive strides in recent years.
Gerald Gallacher, a principal at Nicholson Sheffield Architects, called it a "hasty decision" to propose 120 York. "It's not a good location," he said.
Members of the city's Planning and Environment Committee will have their say at a meeting set for Monday at 4 p.m. They will weigh in on a MLHU report signed by Mackie that lays out the benefits of both York Street addresses, with neither endorsed as a preferred option.
Officially both MLHU and Regional HIV / AIDS Connection say either site would be suitable.
On Wednesday Mackie tweeted out a Twitter poll, asking Londoners to vote on their preferred option.
An 'awkward' situation
Both York Street locations are in Ward 13, represented by Coun. Tanya Park.
She believes 372 York is the better site because it's close to downtown but away from signature locations like Budweiser Gardens and Covent Garden Market.
"My gut tells me that 372 York is the right spot," she said. "It's right in the bull's eye of where the need is in the community."
Regardless of which site is chosen, both Mackie and Park said they don't want a new location choice to hold up the process of selecting a site.
Health Canada would not comment on the situation and would not say how an address change might impact the approval process.
Park said adding 120 York St. to the mix after the Health Canada application was submitted is an unusual move.
"The property owner having an issue, and then giving an alternative location … it's awkward because it's a public process that's been going a long time, there's been consultation and buy-in," she said.
A temporary overdose prevention site that opened on King Street in February has served more than 1,200 clients, an average of 30 a day. On three occasions, staff have intervened to prevent an overdose.