OLDS — Mountain View Emergency Shelter Society (MVESS) spokesman Joe Carignan has called on town council to essentially double the amount of land set aside for the shelter.
Council has agreed to look at the society’s proposal at another date.
The land in question is immediately south of the intersection of 50th Avenue and 54th Street.
The society helps obtain safe spaces for adults -- and often their children -- in the region area fleeing domestic violence. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
It also promotes awareness of family violence and advocates for violence prevention.
MVESS has existed for about 11 years, but as of yet, has no facility to directly provide shelter itself. Clients have to be housed in other facilities in Rocky Mountain House, Red Deer or Calgary.
In a pitch to council on Sept. 6, Carignan said the society has enough money now that he’s pretty confident they’ll begin turning sod this spring for Phase 1 of the shelter – a two storey house.
Phase 2, transitional housing and training to enable clients transition to go back into the wider community would come later.
He also announced that a name for the facility has been chosen. It will be called Kirsten’s Place, in tribute to Kirsten (Gardner) O’Donoghue, who was killed in Bowden in March, 2021 in what is believed to be a case of domestic violence.
Gardner O’Donoghue was the daughter of Brian Gardner, of Brian Gardner Custom Homes, one of several businesses that have committed to providing free services to enable the facility to be built.
Others are Jordet Design Inc. of Didsbury which has designed Phases 1 and 2, RLB Roofing & Construction Inc. and Webb Excavating Ltd.
In the spring of 2021, the Town of Olds announced it was providing MVESS a 0.64-acre chunk of land on which to build a shelter.
That’s about half what the society was given to understand it would be receiving and it’s not enough to enable MVESS to build the facility it needs and thus may force it to look elsewhere for more land, Carignan told council.
“We’re grateful for the land lease we presently have but we’re looking to see if we can extend the property beyond that,” he said.
He also said obtaining that larger tract of land would allow shelter buildings to be set far enough away from the railway tracks that the noise from passing trains could be reduced.
Carignan estimated a rough cost of Phase 1 to be about $340,000, but noted that due to inflation, that figure could change.
He said so far, the society has raised $225,000 via radiothons, golf tournaments and donations. More fundraisers are anticipated.
Carignan unveiled plans for the structure.
Phase 1 will have a classroom/meeting room and storage space in the basement.
The main floor will house cooking and dining facilities, a living room, office and one client bedroom
The second floor will have four more client bedrooms.
Phase 2 would have additional client bedrooms and some transitional housing facilities. Clients could stay in there for up to 18 months, as they prepare to go back into society.
That transitional housing would offer courses in things like cooking, budgeting, shopping, parenting skills and assistance on dealing with addiction.
Carignan said the land currently allocated by the Town of Olds is not enough to house Phase 1, Phase 2 and other aspects such as a playground for children, parking and a designated smoking area.
He said he had conducted some decibel tests regarding train track noise and found that by moving just 50 feet away there was a difference of 15 decibels.
He indicated that if the society received the full amount of land they were initially anticipating receiving, they would be able to accommodate all aspects of the planned facility and locate the facility further away from the tracks, thus be able to keep the noise level down.
He said the larger property would also provide room for long-term growth. And they wouldn’t have to cut down large trees on the property, which they may have to do if they remain on the smaller piece.
Carignan said as far MVESS knows, at the moment there are no grants to cover capital costs, but he’s confident that once the building is constructed the society will be able to access more funding.
Mayor Judy Dahl was not on council when the land was allocated to MVESS. She asked why the group was given the smaller piece of land.
“We had no discussions or any information so I don’t know about that,” Carignan said.
Deputy mayor Heather Ryan and community services director Doug Wagstaff said the council of the day determined that the amount of land MVESS was provided was the same – or perhaps a bit larger – than the amount near the RCMP station initially intended for the group many years ago.
However, Coun. Wanda Blatz, who was also on council at the time, said in light of Carignan’s presentation, perhaps council and administrative staff should have another look at the possibility of providing more land to MVESS.
Coun. Dan Daley liked that idea.
He said now that MVESS has come to council with solid plans in place for construction of the shelter, “I think we need to take a look at this parcel of land and just come up with a development plan that would actually fit in here and meet their needs as well as the town’s needs.”
Council passed a motion to accept the MVESS presentation for information and calling on administrative staff to bring the matter back to council for further discussion “at a later date.”
