Sudbury wet shelter plans hit a snag

The planned wet shelter for downtown Sudbury is without a home.

The Canadian Mental Health Association was looking to set up the wet shelter at the former police station where the Out of the Cold Shelter runs in the winter. But keeping it there would prompt an environmental assessment, causing delays and an increase in price.

A wet shelter is a place that can dispense small shots of alcohol to the client to prevent the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. Other shelters in the city don't allow people to drink inside and although facilities are available for those under the influence, people are not allowed to drink once inside.

The director of building services with the city said putting the wet shelter at the former police station would trigger an environmental assessment. And dealing with residue from a former dry cleaning warehouse nearby would have meant delays and added costs, Guido Mazza said.

"Those chemicals that were used in that process back in the 1950's are deemed to be toxic to the environment as well as to residents."

A plan would be required to prevent those toxins and remnants from an old gas station from getting into Junction Creek, which flows under the building.

"You can't get in there and clean up the whole groundwater table for the downtown core," he said. "At that point in time, you look at sealing the residential areas from those toxins by some fashion or another."

Mazza said the Canadian Mental Health Association is now looking at other downtown buildings.