City of Regina holds open house on rezoning Heritage neighbourhood property

Carmichael Outreach has applied to rezone a lot in the Heritage neighbourhood in order to move operations into the building on that site, so the City of Regina is holding an open house for residents and businesses in the area.

The application requests a change to the property at 1510 12th Ave. and 1872 St. John St. for Carmichael to move from its current location just on the edge of Regina's downtown on Osler Street.

Carmichael Outreach is a community-based charity that helps people with a variety of needs, and offers a number of programs including providing meals and clothing and offering a needle exchange.

Concern over 'ripple effect'

Some Heritage neighbourhood residents have voiced concern over Carmichael Outreach potentially moving closer to residential areas.

• Planned Carmichael Outreach move upsets some

Calvin Becker-Burns spoke with CBC News in November on behalf of concerned residents.

"There's a ripple effect that's coming already from that area of town," he said.

"If they move down here, that ripple effect is going to keep going down here and spreading to our residential neighbourhood a little further and we really don't want to see that happen."

Tyler Gray from Carmichael Outreach said they have outgrown their space and the move would be made with the neighbourhood in mind.

"We want to make sure we're building a neighbourhood that's safe for everybody," he said. "That's a key piece of what we work towards every day … the safety of the people we serve, but also the safety of the neighbourhood that we're in."

Open house

The public is invited to a come-and-go open house to hear from the parties involved and provide feedback.

The open house will take place tonight from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church at 1909 Ottawa St.

City of Regina staff as well as other stakeholders will be on hand at the event to answer questions.

City Council is expected to vote on the zoning change in early 2017.