The Quinte West Planning Advisory Committee has deferred making a decision on a zoning application for a group home in a residential area on Lester Road in Trenton.
During Thursday’s meeting, members of the committee received a report from municipal staff and from the owners of the property, St. Leonard’s Community Support, regarding changing the property from Residential Type 3, to Residential Type 3 with exceptions.
The property is the former site of Orchard View Baptist Church.
The plan for the property was to convert the existing church building into a group home for youth who had been involved in the justice system but had completed their sentence. Youth referred to the shelter would have a place to live while they worked with staff on site with developing life skills needed for independent living and also attending high school or college to fill gaps in their education.
The site was planned to feature four rooms for participating youth, with communal living space. The site would be supervised 24/7.
The existing zoning permitted a group home setting like this, however, St. Leonard’s sought a zoning amendment to also allow the site to host a number of emergency beds on the site, with the intent of allowing youth at risk of homelessness to register for a short-term stay to avoid homelessness. The proposal did not include a “drop-in” element, with all people staying there having to be referred in advance from another agency. The proposal also did not include any form of addictions or mental health services.
The proposal drew a large crowd of surrounding residents opposed to having the home in the neighbourhood. Resident concerns varied, but many who spoke had concerns about the safety of the surrounding area, citing that the people staying in the group home could be a risk to local residents and their children. Another concern was the potential negative impacts of the group home on surrounding property values, with residents saying this wasn’t the right place for the home.
Many residents said they had little to no notice of the changes, and a lot of questions were asked of the presenter from St. Leonard’s. Due to public confusion surrounding the project, Councillor Michael Kotsovos moved that the decision be deferred to a future meeting.
“Out of respect for the public members that did decide to attend, I think the deferral was the right call so that they can have their questions answered before we move forward with this application,” said Councillor Kotsovos.
The motion passed, and the decision was delayed. The rezoning is expected to come back to committee during April or May.
