By Brent Bosker

Rising Stars plans to sell foster home

Feb 25, 2011 | 5:18 AM

A government-funded foster home built for young children near Prince Albert is about to go up for sale.

After countless attempts to secure the proper permit to operate as a foster home from the Rural Municipality of Prince Albert, Rising Stars Children’s Ranch has decided to sell the home and start fresh somewhere else.

It’s disappointing, said the groups treasure Jeff Bergen, who said the only other option would be going to court.

“We didn’t get in this to do battle with small-minded politicians. We really want to get on with the business of serving children.”

The 10-bed home, intended for vulnerable children between the ages of six to 10 has been turn-key ready since last summer, but has sat empty because of the zoning technicality.

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That’s made it hard, said Bergen.

“To have everything set to go and then to have the rug pulled out from under us (has) been hard.”

Since learning about their predicament, the children’s group has been working with the municipality to have it resolved. Their most recent attempt was applying for a development permit to include foster care homes as a discretionary use.

It was unanimously rejected by the rural municipality council who said the land the home is built on is zoned for agriculture use and a foster home is not permitted under their bylaw.

Another prominent concern was that the ranch had built the home despite issues with building permits and subdivision applications.

“It didn’t matter what we did, what we said, nothing was going to change their minds.”

In the last few council meetings Rising Stars was under attack, Bergen said.

“It was not, ‘okay let’s find out what you’re really about.’ It was all just trying to embarrass us and make us look as bad as they possibly could.”

Although he places most of the blame on the local council, he said the group accepts some of the responsibility in the matter.

“Our fault was in being naive and not receiving written zoning approval for a foster home before starting out,” he said.

Bergen isn't ruling out the possibility of a lawsuit but said their preference is to move on.

The group has been looking at a number of properties in the area including inside the City of Prince Albert which is a likely scenario, Bergen said.

“We’ve already had conversations with the Mayor and administrative staff … and they’ve been very supportive.”

We’re hoping to move quickly and have a tentative property selected within a month, he said.

The provincial government committed a $350,000 capital grant toward the project in 2009. That money would be recouped through the sale of the home and put toward the new location.

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bbosker@panow.com