City council approved third reading of the Business License Bylaw amendment for the Turning Point-operated Supervised Consumption Site (SCS) located at 5233 – 54th Ave. during the regular meeting Monday.

First and second reading were passed in December and at that time, two amendments were added including the clean-up of garbage and needles for a space of 150 m around the site and that there will also be a liaison position that will work with both the City and public regarding any concerns.

In December, council also approved a development permit for the SCS, which had been approved for SCS services in late November.

The development permit includes the relocation of Turning Point programs and operations from their current location to the new site. This will include areas for reception, consumption and observation.

Amendments to the development permit also included setting up a 1.5 m see-through fence and also that the permit would include a span for seven years before being up for renewal.

Council had passed second and third reading for a land use bylaw amendment granting the green light for a supervised consumption site late last year as well.

Supervised consumption sites provide a place where people can use previously-obtained drugs in a monitored, hygienic environment to reduce harm and overdose death caused by substance use while offering additional services such as counselling, social work and opioid-dependency treatment.

Current programs based at Turning Point include a women’s program, health promotion, harm reduction, rural outreach, overdose prevention programs, Nightreach and an overdose prevention site.

Coun. Tanya Handley said that holding third reading this week allowed council the appropriate time to pause and make sure council had everything needed to include within the bylaw.

“I’m pleased that we took that time to get any additional feedback from the community that we needed. I think that’s important and I (feel) that we’ve landed in a good place.”