Riverview Lands revisioning to include new mental health buildings

The B.C. government says it plans to turn the former site of the Riverview psychiatric hospital in Coquitlaminto a mixed-use development that will include new mental health facilities, as well as social and market housing.

The province announced the plansfor theRiverviewLands on Thursday morning. They include two new buildingsand relocatingthree mental health programs to the site.

"We have made significant progress over the past year advancing the continuum of services for people in British Columbia suffering from severe substance use and mental illness," said B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake.

"The relocation and expansion of the Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addiction to the Riverview Campus will allow us to better meet the needs of these patients, and support them in their recovery and transition back into the community."

TheCoquitlampsychiatric hospital has been sitting mostly emptysince it closedin 2012 except for three small mental health facilities operated by Fraser Health.

Break-even model for development

Entitled A Vision for Renewing Riverview Lands, the report is the first step in developing a master development plan that will include a healthcare district as well as market and supportive housing.

The overall aim of the project is to redevelop the site on a break-even model, meaning that the construction or renovation of new healthcare facilities would be funded by commercial development of the land, mostly for housing.

The commitment includes spending approximately $175 million to build a 105-bed mental health facility to replace the Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addiction, and a second new building to house the 28-bed Maples Adolescent Treatment Centre and the 10-bed Provincial Assessment Centre.

The Kwikwetlen First Nation has maintained its aboriginal right and title to the land. In a statement, the band said it expects to see significant market development of the land,including for market housing, and it objected to any continued use or expansion of healthcare facilities without its prior consent.

100 years of mental health care

The Riverview Lands have been the site of B.C.'s primary mental health facilities for about 100 years when the Colony Farm was established.

But in the 1980s, the Social Credit government came up with a plan to close Riverview and attempt to integrate mental health patients back into communities.

While that plan met with mixed success, over the next few decades the hospital wards were shutdown and now the site has been sitting mostly empty except for three small mental health facilities operated by Fraser Health.

About 75 buildings remain on the site, but many are not longer in use and would require extensive renovations to put back into use.

• Riverview Hospital: a brief history

Riverviewislisted in thetop ten of Canada's most endangered heritage sitesby the Heritage Canada Foundation.

As a result in 2013 the government,in order to involve the stakeholdersin developing a long-term plan,launched the revisioning process for the 100-hectare site, which includes extensive forests and 1,800 mature trees.