Neighbours still opposed to homeless shelter

Residents, non-profit housing group agree to form citizens' advisory committee

Neighbours of Miramichi Housing Solutions’ new out-of-the-cold shelter at 273 King George Hwy. expressed concerns about it at a public hearing on Wednesday at the Beaverbrook Kin Centre. (SCREENSHOT)

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MIRAMICHI - Neighbours of the city’s new out-of-the-cold shelter say they have safety concerns and apprehensions about the shelter’s impact on the community.

However, the facility’s operator assures them that staff are working diligently to address these issues.

More than 40 people attended a public hearing on Wednesday at the Beaverbrook Kin Centre to voice their concerns as city council considers rezoning 273 King George Hwy., in the former town of Newcastle, from low-density residential (R-2) and highway commercial (HC) to institutional (IN) to allow Miramichi Housing Solutions to operate a shelter in the house and garage on the site — known locally as the old Goodfellow property.

Council is also considering a request to change the properties’ municipal plan designations from residential and commercial to institutional. The first readings were passed in December. The vote on the second and third readings will be held on March 11 at 6 p.m. at Miramichi City Hall.

In October, the Greater Miramichi Regional Service Commission’s planning review and adjustment committee granted a one-year temporary-use approval to allow the shelter to open this winter and signed off on the rezoning and municipal plan changes, with several conditions.

Before the public hearing, the city clerk’s office received six objection letters from residents Ann Robinson, Muriel Tozer, Blake and Ellen Shaddick, M. Houlston-Campbell, Reg Falconer, and Mary MacIntosh-Warren. Falconer, MacIntosh-Warren, Ellen Shaddick, Toni Paul, Maria Campbell, Robert Halston, and John McKay were among the neighbours who spoke against the rezoning during the hearing.

Paul didn’t mince words when expressing her fears. She said uninvited guests have shown up in her yard and mistaken her driveway for the shelter’s entrance since it opened in December.

“My son and I sleep with knives by our bedsides now,” she said. “That’s no way to sleep. We shouldn’t have to live in fear.

“Many residents living near the shelter are seniors. They’re scared. I don’t blame them. I’m scared, too.”