The District of Squamish has identified two possible sites for future affordable housing projects – one along Buckley Avenue and one on Guilford Drive.
The District has been working on identifying the sites since June with M’akola Development Services, a Victoria-based non-profit that manages affordable housing projects across the province and does consulting for private and public clients.
Council has made affordable housing a priority this year, but it’s been a challenge to identify appropriate sites that are zoned residentially.
“What we’ve found is we don’t have a lot of options with respect to land,” said Gary Buxton, the District’s general manager of community planning and infrastructure. “There were very few options – the sites need to be owned by us, they need to have a clear title, so the list was very short.”
The potential sites identified last week would support very different projects, based on the available land. The goal for the feasibility study being done on the sites would be end of year, according to Buxton.
“We’re moving as fast as we can,” he said.
The plans for the sites are only in the earliest conceptual phases and final site designs will come in the next phase, expected this fall.
The District is also working on a business case, identifying funding sources and an operator for the buildings.
The draft plan for the Buckley location near the existing Squamish Skatepark would include 72 apartment units and eight lower-density townhouse units, as well as surface parking and greenspace.
“We’ve incorporated as much green space as possible, as well as some potential office space for community use, with a potential connection to the existing skatepark support services. That’s the focus in our preliminary research,” Kaeley Wiseman, manager of planning and development for M’akola.
“That would probably be the most appropriate use for the site.”
Right now, because of complications with who owns the land, the aging building that houses the current Youth Centre would not be included in the redevelopment of the area.
The second potential site, on either side of Guilford Drive in Valleycliffe, is a long linear piece of land that could support a smaller development of an estimated 40 townhouse units.
The property is close to a riverbank, meaning more data is needed before a plan could be finalized.
“In terms of basic land evaluation, that is complete. Site designs and architectural concepts are underway. The business case background work has started, and coordination with potential funders and financiers, particularly BC Housing, that work as also underway,” said Buxton.
“In the end we want two feasibility studies,” said Buxton.
The sites were revealed at a committee of the whole meeting last week, which included a larger discussion about the District’s long-term affordable housing vision with community partners.
The walkability of the Buckley site received praise from Coun. Peter Kent, who liked the idea of the Youth Centre services being moved to new offices and that land eventually being obtained for youth-focused temporary housing.
Mayor Patricia Heintzman said during her first years on council, the District was making lots of plans about affordable housing that never came to fruition. Now they are playing catch-up.
“What we didn’t do back then was action the affordable housing,” she said on Tuesday. “We know there will be ebbs and flows, but if we don’t continue to plug away, we’ll get behind the eight ball.”
Councillors also expressed an interest in more flexible land use for the Guilford Drive site that would allow for tiny homes or parked structures.
Wiseman said experimental ideas can be hard to finance but could become an option, as BC Housing is currently reevaluating its stringent guidelines on the type of projects that qualify for funding.
