Campbell River is going ahead with plans to reject two non-profit organizations’ property-tax exemption requests for 2024, but held out the prospect the town’s art gallery could still have its tax covered if it can reach an agreement with city hall.
Council stuck with its decision to reject a tax break for the Campbell River Art Gallery but said it will consider putting up the money from its contingency fund if the parties can work out their differences. Specific criteria for resolving the matter were not revealed.
At issue is the perception by some on council that the art gallery and Vancouver Island Mental Health Society are contributing to disorder downtown when it comes to unhoused residents.
Mayor Kermit Dahl told the audience in a packed council meeting on Thursday that the city and art gallery staff will work together to “build back a positive relationship.”
“When that happens, they will be rewarded.”
Art gallery board chair Denise Mitchell said Friday the gallery is “looking forward to working with the city on a positive relationship.”
The first meeting with city staff was scheduled for Friday afternoon. “I think it will be fine. We’re committed to working it through.”
The gallery came under fire because some unhoused residents were sheltering under the city-owned building’s awnings at night. It also holds a once-a-week art studio session for members of the street population, one of 47 programs the gallery offers, Mitchell said.
Coun. Ron Kerr said at a previous council meeting that the gallery and the Vancouver Island Mental Health Society, which runs a supervised injection site downtown, had “poor neighbourly manners” and were having “significant negative effects on our downtown community.”
When word spread that the city was preparing to refuse tax exemptions to the two groups, council was flooded with hundreds of letters, many backing the gallery and the mental health society.
The tax exemption bylaw was amended at the Thursday meeting, and is now set to come to council on Oct. 26 for fourth and final reading.
At stake is $9,810 for the art gallery, and $17,114 for the mental health society.
Mental health society executive director Taryn O’Flanagan said it will carry on its services despite losing its exemption.
The Nanaimo-based society runs a sobering and assessment centre at its downtown Campbell River site as well as two other residential facilities in the community.
The funding cut “obviously takes away of some of the things that we can do. We haven’t even looked at the scope in which it will impact but we will continue to operate,” she said Friday. “Clearly we are pretty disappointed in things not going well for us [at council].
“We are more concerned with the comments that are made and the devaluing of service.”
The city’s plan to axe tax exemptions for the two non-profits drew criticism from Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon.
“Attacking people who are trying to be good neighbours and trying to address that challenge in communities is not the way to go about it because, in the end, Campbell River may get more supportive housing units, but they may not find any willing partners to step forward to actually operate them because they feel they’re being vilified for doing the work that they do,” said Kahlon, who urged the council to work with its partners to find solutions.
“I know it’s not easy. I know people get frustrated and they’re tired and they want the problem just to be solved. But the only way they address it is by working together.”
Council took other steps this week to deal with community social concerns.
It voted to spend $471,000 per year for three years — a total of $1.4 million — to beef up the city’s public works and downtown safety office to address public safety concerns.
Of that, $110,000 will go to labour and materials to expand a clean-up program, $216,000 will cover labour costs to expand shifts for the downtown safety office and $145,000 will pay for a daily community and downtown security patrol.
Council has already approved funding for four more RCMP officers and one more bylaw enforcement officer, but more resources are needed, a city staff report said.
City officials are meeting regularly with provincial and other agencies to address community concerns. Campbell River is asking the province to fund low-barrier housing and improve treatment and recovery programs.
Fellow council members backed Dahl’s request for staff to examine the viability of allowing people to live year-round in recreational vehicles in the city, given the housing shortage.
People are currently only permitted to live in a recreational vehicle while a home is being built.
Coun. Sean Smyth called the step “long overdue.”
Coun. Ben Lanyon won support for a motion to request a staff report on encampments at Nunns Creek Park and in downtown.
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