City to consider land sale in support of addiction recovery centre

A plan to convert Winnipeg's old Vimy Arena into an addictiontreatment centre is about to face its first hurdle at city hall.

On Monday, city council's property committee will consider a plan to transfer the arena in St. Charles to the province for $1.43 million. The land would then be leased to the non-profit Bruce Oake Memorial Foundation for $1 a year for 99 years.

If approved, themove would bethe first step toward the construction ofa non-profit, 50-bed long-term addiction recovery facilitycalled the Bruce OakeRecovery Centre.

The sale also needs approval from the city's executive policy committee before it can go before council, where a two-thirds majority of elected officials must approve the deal because it involves the disposal of recreation space.

"If it gets to council and the vote is in our favour, it will be a beautiful thing," said broadcaster Scott Oake. Oakehas been working to create the treatment centre in honour of his late son Bruce, who died of an opioidoverdose.

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The city, the province and the Bruce OakeMemorial Foundation have been working on the project since early in 2017.

The 30,000-square-foot facility would occupy the footprint of the existing arena, Oake said.

"Not one square foot of green space will be lost," he said.

Land valued at $1.4 million

A report authored by Winnipeg real estate manager Marc Pittet saidthe land has an appraised value of $1.43 million, but the province initially offered $1.

The Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corp., a provincial Crown corporation, subsequently agreed to acquire the property for the appraised amount and lease it to the Bruce OakeRecovery Centre for $1 a year for 99 years, the report states.

Proceeds from the sale would be reinvested into city libraries and recreational facilities, Winnipeg communications manager David Driedger said via email.

The sale is contingent upon the rezoning of the property for use as a treatment centre, which wouldinvolve a public hearing.

"Rezoningis a safety net for all the residents in the area who have any concerns," said Oake, referring to St. Charles residents who have expressed fears about a treatment centre operating in their neighbourhood.

• 'Talking about transparency': Future of addictions-recovery centre debated at open house

"Every citizen has a rightto beheard,have their questions answered, their concerns addressed and we hope we'll be able to do that."

Area Coun. Shawn Dobson (St. Charles), who has opposed the project, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Mayor Brian Bowman, who supports the treatment centre, was not available for comment, his press secretary Jeremy Davis said via email.

Oakesaid the project has the potential to prevent people from dying from opioiduse.

"The easiest thing for us to do as afamily when our son passed awaywould have been to do nothingand just resign ourselves to our grief and carry on with our lives," he said.

"But we've proposed a facility that could help be part of the solution to the crisis that's claiming we've been given to understand 10 lives a month, in and around the Winnipeg area."