Prince George, B.C.-  For the past year,  T&K Behavioural Interventionists Ltd has been providing services at 788 Preston Road under a temporary use permit.  The  company  would like to make  that permanent  by  having the property  rezoned and  Council has  cleared the path toward that goal.

T&K provides behaviour therapy and life skills training  for children with developmental  challenges.

Staff with the City of Prince George  argued against the  proposal  saying the  well established single family  residential neighbourhood  is not the right place for the  service saying it would fragment the neighbourhood  and  lead to “undue traffic within a local neighbourhood street.”

Staff also  expressed concerns about increasing traffic and parking  on Preston Road which  already handles  staff and visitors to Cedars Christian School.

But  T&K says  parking has never been an issue because the property  has two  driveways and pick up and drop off  is only 5 minutes. The  location meets the needs of the service says Kalma Arnett of T&K .

She says being centrally located is a positive  for  the clients.  It’s a point echoed by  one supporter who says  it would have been impossible for his  autistic son to  learn the skills needed to  navigate a home,  if the  service was being offered in an office building like the Phoenix Medical Building.

Councillor Brian Skakun disagrees with the  position of  City Staff, “From my perspective I am going to  be supporting a hard working ethical  business”.

“I think sometimes we do have to step out of the box and serve the better  and higher need” said Councillor Susan Scott who made it clear she would be  supporting the  rezoning.

Council has  unanimously approved the rezoning,  pending a traffic  impact study.