Opposition To Maberly Treatment Centre Increases

Jeff Green | Feb 07, 2024

A petition opposing the proposed Manie Daniels treatment centre in Maberly has gained traction since it started circulating a week ago.

The petition points to some alleged technical errors in the way the Tay Valley Township has carried out is planning process over a zoning amendment application that is necessary for the centre to operate.

These include whether all neighbouring property owners within 120 metres of the site, at the junction of Maberly Main Street and County Road 36, received notification of a public meeting regarding the zoning application, and whether the notices that did go out were received 20 business days before the meeting. The meeting is set for February 13, 5:30 pm at the Tay Valley Township office on Harper Road.

The petition also questions the treatment centre itself.

“The applicant’s intention is to open up an unwanted rehab for people awaiting trial who are addicted to heavy drugs, to house up to 8 men at a time. Tay Valley has not done their due diligence.

“Tay Valley notice calls this place an “addiction treatment facility”. This is misleading and hiding the true purpose of the place, which is essentially a halfway house” it says.

Spencer Kell, who purchased the building in August of last year, and has been rehabilitating and renovating it ever since. On August 30, he applied to Tay Valley Township for the Zoning Bylaw amendment, to change the zoning from Residential (R) to Residential Special Exception-31 (R-31).

“The effect of the amendment is to allow an existing residence to be used as an addiction treatment facility,” said the notice for next week's public meeting.

A couple of positive articles about the proposed centre were published by the Inside Ottawa Valley and CBC Ottawa in the late fall and early winter, but the local community has only been engaged over the last couple of weeks.

Spencer Kell, who is living in a small apartment in the building while he works on the renovation. projects, told the News this week he has been taken aback by the opposition to his plans.

“It took me by surprise,” he said, “but I realise that even though they oppose by plans, ultimately, we all want the same thing. They are saying we don't want drug addicted criminals in our neighbourhood, and guess what, I don't want drug addicted criminals in any neighborhood. The difference is I'm providing a solution to that problem, by offering treatment to people who are suffering from substance abuse disorder so that they never engage in criminal behaviour again. At the core, we are in agreement. We want the same things for society.”

Spencer Kell owns the property, but he does not plan to run the treatment centre on his own. The centre will be operated by Love Soluble, a charitable not for profit corporation that he set up last year, which is overseen by a board of directors.

On the Love Soluble website, there is a section that describes of the program that will be offered at the Mani Daniels Centre (which is the name they have given the house) as well as a section on Spencer Kell's story of addiction and recovery.

It also describes who the centre is intended to serve: “The purpose of Love Soluble is to provide accessible substance use disorder treatment to pre-sentenced individuals who are facing incarceration due to actions influenced by their substance use disorder.”

The site goes on to say that majority of individuals facing charges are suffering from substance abuse disorder, and are denied bail “due to risk averse decisions made in criminal court proceedings.”

If there were treatment options available, not only would the system save money since it cost $350 per day for people denied bail, and “without treatment, the risk of re-offending is high”

Spencer Kell sees that much of the local opposition to the centre is focused on the fact that people will be coming there from the court system to receive treatment while out on bail as they face criminal charges.

“People may not realise this, but there are people out on bail all over Lanark County. I could rent out my rooms to people who are out on bail without seeking any zoning change at all from the township. Anyone can do that. But what we are planning to do is to help people who recognise that the source of their problems with criminality is their addiction to substances, not only drugs but alcohol as well, and want to do something about it.”

He said that the vetting process for bringing people into the Mani Daniels Centre will be extensive. First of all, they are only planning to treat men. Secondly, they will not be treating men who have been diagnosed with disorders other than substance abuse disorders, so men with mental health diagnoses will not be candidates for the residential treatment program.

“There are mental health treatment facilities that are equipped for that population, and we are not,” said Kell.

Mani Daniels was Spencer Kell's cell mate and friend, who contacted him as he was leaving prison to see if there was counselling available. Before that happened, Daniels died from an overdose, just two days after leaving prison.

While the site is named for Mani Daniels, Spencer Kell's own history is key to understanding his motivation to set up Love Soluble and build the Mani Daniels centre.

Kell was first imprisoned in 2002 at the age of 23. He spent a total of 2 years behind bars over the next 16 years, and eventually turned his life around thanks to some effective treatment, a 12-step program, and a concerted effort to become self sufficient.

“Our goal at Love Soluble is to make the process that I went through a little easier than it was for me. There needs to be a commitment to get clean, that's the first criteria, we are an abstinence-based program. And then it is a matter of learning life skills. How to keep a house clean, how to keep a job, all of that.”

Kell is a Christian, a Salvation Army member, and his religious commitment was part of his recovery and his motivation to help others recover. While the programming at the Mani Daniels Centre will not be religious based, using a 12 step-program will be encouraged.

“People know who I am,” he said, pointing to the bibles on the table by his couch, “and that is part of what I bring to the program.”

Spencer Kell studied counselling at Willis College in Ottawa and obtained his Associate Addictions Councillor (AAC) certificate from the Canadian Addictions Counsellor Certification Federation (CACCF)

As was pointed out by an anonymous email to the News, his AAC certificate lapsed in April of last year.

Kell said that his certification required further documentation and he submitted that documentation on Monday eventing this week. By Tuesday, his AAC certification was listed as current on the CACCF site.

He said he is currently working on obtaining his Canadian Certified Addictions Councillor (CCAC) designation.

Among the members of the Love Soluble, is Paul Laurie, the Principle at Recovery Works in Bracebridge, who has been in practice for 25 years. Laurie also acts as Spencer Kell's supervisor and is designated for that role by the CACCF.

Among the points made by those opposing the zoning application, is one by a source who requested they not be identified because he said he was scared for his family.

He said “We've all been touched by drugs, crime, and addiction and it is no joke!! Yet this guy seems to be either someone with a big heart who doesn't know how to set something up or he is hiding something.”

The Tay Valley Planning Department is set to release their report on the zoning application this week, in advance of the Public Meeting on the 13th. They will be making a recommendation to Council.

When contacted on Tuesday, Tay Valley Planner Noelle Reeve said that the planning process regarding this application has been guided by a similar process at another property in Maberly, which applied for and received the same designation back in 2017. An addiction treatment centre was opened at that property, but closed within two years.

Reeve said that the planning issues around the zoning amendment application are mainly focused on the change in the “users” of the property.

Planning departments can not consider who those users will be, Reeve said, only at the impact of the number of users that will be regularly at the property.

Issues such as impact on the septic system, the potential requirement for fencing for privacy reasons, impacts on the shoreline and the potential need for riparian barrier (the property abuts the Fall River) are all within the scope of the planning process.

But whether it is a treatment centre for arthritics or people with substance abuse issues is not relevant to the planning process. Planner Reeve said that Ontario law is very clear on that point.

However, it is Tay Valley, not the planning department, that will make the final decision about the zoning amendment application.

While the zoning is a required step in establishing the Mani Daniels Centre as a treatment facility, it is only a first step.

The centre will require provincial or federal funding, or both, as well as fundraising, in order to be able to operate. While those in the program will be expected to pay rent, the cost of running the program and bringing in a team of counsellors, will not be covered by the rent payments.

The relative isolation of Maberly is both and advantage and a disadvantage for the program, which can run for up to year or more.

“In the long run, we may use the Mani Daniels Centre for the first month of the program, if we have another centre in a larger town or city for the later stages of the program,” said Kell.

And although the Main Daniels Centre may see success in their zoning application, Kell and his team will have some work to do to turn the community in Maberly and the surrounding region who have signed the petition opposing them, into the supportive community that the centre will need in order to be successful in the long run.