Hille Pelec Hyde. Address to City of Ottawa Planning Committee, November 14, 2017 Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to speak on the matter of the Salvation Army proposal to relocate to Montreal Road in Vanier. |lam a long-time resident of Ottawa, | live in Rockcliffe and frequent Montreal Road for shopping, and visiting friends and am well aware of the area to be affected by this proposal if it goes ahead. |.am strongly opposed to it for many reasons and have provided them to the Salvation Army (to which I have given financial support all my working life). | believe it isa great mistake for this significant proposal to proceed without widespread community support. Before any work is done on the proposed site, recommend it be shelved until a more comprehensive study is undertaken. Both the City and the Salvation Army would be wise to seriously consider alternatives and avoid wasting time and money to fight the local opposition. ‘The Montreal Road location is not suitable for heavy traffic which it will bring, nor is there sufficient street parking available. There will be significant disruption of Montreal Road for two years during construction, especially during winter, as well as for years thereafter. No amount of improvement that the City has promised will change that. There is a large residential area stretching from the site of the proposed facility up to the Beechwood Cemetery which includes many families with young children. These folks are not enthused with the possibility of being close to the Salvation ‘Army's proposed facility and letting young kids walk to their school, or traveling to and from the bus stops in that area. ‘The chosen site is situated half way between the Vanier Parkway and St. Laurent. Boulevard which are major traffic thoroughfares, but being approximately one Kilometre from each, makes ita bit far for walking to and from them. Another location such as the site of the former Rideau High School, or the Target department store shopping centre (which has been vacant for about a year) both of which are on St. Laurent Boulevard, and have ample space for parking and other outside activities, would be better choices. (With the rise of Amazon ander demise of both Target in Canada and recently Sears, there will be little chance of a big department store locating there.) The proposed location is also inconvenient for people coming from the 417 highway and the Light Rail route currently under construction The proposed site will be close to the Wabano Centre which serves indigenous persons who have different needs and, | understand, are not in favour of this project being located close to it. Vanier needs new commercial businesses and improvements to the area living conditions ~ not more homeless people and drug users. The Salvation Army's proposed facility will only make it more challenging for Vanier to achieve its objectives. What would be even better than this proposal, would be for the Salvation Army to decentralize their operations and locate them in a number of small locations around the City. | understand that Ottawa is spread out over a greater area than Toronto, Montreal or Edmonton, hence it would be far better for them to distribute their operations widely to serve the whole City, and provide smaller facilities for homeless in those areas. Ottawa Salus and the Robert Smart Centre are a couple of excellent examples of charitable entities which have been very successful doing this without causing community opposition. There are many good reasons for splitting the Salvation Army/s project into smaller local based facilites and avoiding the community's opposition to this ‘mega one. Some experienced people have argued that the Salvation Army needs services designed for community support. Using property tax money to fund shelter beds isa pointless way to solve the homeless issue. Some have argued that support for the SOS Vanier organization position is ‘marginal, but | can assure you that, from what | know, there is widespread support from outside the community as well as Vanier itself. The Salvation Army is a worthwhile organization which | have supported for many years, and | am willing to work with them on alternatives using my considerable experience and knowledge of Not-for-Profit entities. | have served many of these organizations, both as a professional accountant and volunteer board member, so | know | can be of help in forging a different direction.