Our Place Society has submitted its rezoning application to the Town of View Royal for the site of the former Choices Transitional Housing.
Prior to council reviewing the application in a public meeting, Our Place hosted two open houses at the site, 94 Talcott Rd.
The latest open house, which took place last Saturday, featured guided tours of the facility and information for members of the community to read and discuss.
Don Evans, Our Place Society executive director, said the advisory committee has been planning on running a therapeutic community since before opening Choices in 2016, which created a segway to doing what they had initially wanted to do.
Read More: Our Place looks to create new therapeutic recovery community in View Royal
Currently, the two primary uses for the property are a temporary youth custody centre and a vocational school.
Our Place Society has applied for rezoning as a therapeutic community and additional accessory uses that are social enterprise activities – ways for residents to work and to help raise money for operation of the facility, Evans said.
Choices was previously allowed to operate at the former youth prison under a temporary use permit.
This rezoning application, if approved, would allow for a permanent facility.
Our Place is hoping for the application to go before View Royal’s committee of the whole by May 8 and expects a public hearing would follow at a council meeting towards the end of June.
The society has raised nearly $1.5 million in private donations and is working on receiving funding from the provincial government. That funding would be provided over the course of seven years, after which the operation would be privately funded.
Our Place Society runs 60 programs focused on education, health care and employment.
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