District of Squamish councillors have agreed to waive a number of works and services required for a new proposed supportive housing development.
Development fees for the project at 39900 Government Road have also been waived, along with the allocation of a $500,000 grant that will go towards the relocation of a sanitary forcemain and FortisBC gas main on the property.
At a special business meeting on July 8, councillors voted almost unanimously in favour of the changes to “improve project feasibility and competitiveness to qualify for provincial project funding.”
A brief history
The District announced the project on June 5 and revealed that it would be built in partnership with BC Housing, Squamish Community Housing Society and Squamish Helping Hands Society.
The new development is being proposed on District-owned land and would be built in two separate buildings.
The first building would feature approximately 60 to 65 supportive homes, and the second building would feature approximately 100 affordable rental homes.
According to a report to council, the supportive housing project will be built in the southern portion of the property, and the affordable housing project is proposed to be advanced in two phases at the north end of the property.
“Housing Squamish will be applying to the 2025 intake of the BC Housing Community Housing Fund (CHF) for funding of the affordable housing project, which targets 50 % of units at rent geared to income, 20 % of units at deep subsidy rents, and 30 % at low end of market,” the report states.
Waived requirements
At the special business meeting, District senior director of community development Jonas Velaniskis told staff the motions were strictly about the servicing for the site, not the overall project itself.
“That will move through a different process in terms of development permitting and building permitting,” he said.
According to the report to council, properties that undergo development within the District are required to install off-side works and services as part of the Subdivision and Development Control (S&DC) Bylaw.
To adhere to the bylaw, the Government Road Affordable and Supportive Housing (GRASHP) developers would be required to upgrade the frontages on both Government Road and Pioneer Way.
For a typical development project, “required roadworks frontage improvements would include paving of half of the road width, curb and gutter, storm sewer and required catch basins, sidewalk, bike lanes and/or multi-use path (MUP) planted boulevards including street trees, and street and trail lighting.”
“Other requirements could include the provision of an improved bus stop and shelter, pedestrian crosswalk including lighting, and undergrounding of third-party utilities (e.g., hydro telecommunications),” the report states.
To “improve the project feasibility,” BC Housing and Housing Squamish requested a reduction to the roadworks and frontage requirements for Pioneer Way.
District staff proposed to councillors a list of “required works and services” for the development:
1. The ultimate roadworks along Government Road at the property’s north frontage (with an estimated value of $341,000).
2. An on-site multi-use path (MUP) through the northeast frontage (the minimum needed to provide a pedestrian connection), as well as off-site along Government Road to the intersection with Centennial Way (with an estimated value of $314,000, excluding the on-site portion).
3. Reduced Roadworks for the South portion of Pioneer Way, in-lieu of a MUP along the Southeast frontage. This is the minimum necessary to provide an interim pedestrian connection and provides a foundation for the future Ultimate Roadworks (with an estimated value of $245,000).
Works and services that District staff proposed to be waived are:
1. North Pioneer Way Ultimate Roadworks: A 3.5 m drive aisle, curb and gutter, 2.75 m planted boulevard, combination street and trail lighting, a 1.8 m paved bike path, and a 1.8m concrete sidewalk (with an estimated value of $465,000).
2. South Pioneer Way Ultimate Roadworks: A 2.75 m planted boulevard, combination street and trail lighting, a 1.8m paved bike path, and a 1.8 m concrete sidewalk (with an estimated value of $491,000).
The waived requirements would become future upgrades that would need to be completed either by the District and/or a future development located along Pioneer Way.
Sewer and gas pipe relocation
The property also has a sanitary forcemain and FortisBC gas main that runs below ground, north to south, along the length of the property.
Before construction can begin on the site, the infrastructure would need to be relocated, which is estimated to cost $1.3 million.
In 2024, the District secured a $1.75 million Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) grant from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
District staff proposed to council that the remaining funds from the grant—$500,000—be directed to help with the costs of relocating the gas line and forcemain.
The rest of the costs would be covered by BC Housing.
Development fees
The report to council states that the District can exempt building, planning and environment service-related fees for publicly owned and funded affordable housing projects (including supportive housing).
Fees associated with servicing agreements can also be waived by council for not-for-profit, affordable rental housing or supportive housing.
BC Housing and Housing Squamish requested councillors waive the fees associated with servicing the two not-for-profit housing projects “to improve the project’s feasibility and reduce debt-servicing costs for the operator.”
“The estimated fees associated with this project would be approximately $40,000,” reads the report.
Councillor comments
For the most part, councillors were supportive of waiving the works and services required for the project as it would advance a much-needed housing project in Squamish.
“We are really kind of turning over every stone to try and find possible, functional pieces of land and those are often expensive to build on and this is one example of doing so,” Coun. Jenna Stoner said.
“While the staff report and the discussion here is talking about waiving of fees and maybe seeing it as a delay of critical infrastructure, I actually think an alternative narrative to that … is that this is actually advancing infrastructure investment earlier than we would have seen in this part of our community.
“The moving of the underground infrastructure, which is something that we would have to do at the cost of $1.3 million, we can now do that using a federal grant of $500,000 for our portion and $800,000 from external agencies to help support that cost.
“I actually think this is a cost-effective project as well as delivering on one of the core things that we know our community needs exponentially more of, which is affordable and supportive housing.”
Coun. Andrew Hamilton said it was “very clear” that the community needs more affordable and supportive housing.
“This is how it gets done. We’ve got just about every order of government contributing to this, including not-for-profit associations and organizations, both within our community and within our province, coming together to get this done,” he said.
“These simple fee waivers are our small contribution to getting it done.”
Coun. Eric Andersen said he hoped the project would be “another success story” for Squamish.
“We have examples of supportive housing projects in neighbourhoods all around the District of Squamish and they are success stories. We have success stories in integrating supportive housing in for example Wilson Crescent, Garibaldi Estates and elsewhere and people would hardly know about them,” he said.
“So I'm hoping that this, although it is a larger-scale project, will be in time another success story.”
Coun. Chris Pettingill said he couldn’t support the request without knowing the risks imposed by the FortisBC Eagle Mountain-Woodfibre Gas Pipeline Project.
“For me, I am still looking to understand whether the risk is appropriate given the mass of a pipeline,” he said.
“If people are wondering why I push so hard on this and some of these issues, I expect that it will pass, and so if it goes, I want to make sure it is as good as it can be.”
Pettingill said that aside from the FortisBC pipeline, the project did accelerate “much-needed infrastructure in the community.”
“I think what's proposed is critical to make this project successful. If it is going to go forward, I think it's important that we ask Fortis to fund this, at least their part of the infrastructure removal,” he said.
“We are doing everything we can in our zoning and so on to avoid fossil gas use and development generally, and I don't think it makes sense to continue to ask our community to take on the cost of managing Fortis infrastructure, especially for affordable and supportive housing.”
Councillors voted 6-1 in favour of waiving the frontage portion of the works and services for the project, allocating the CMHC HAF funds to the sewage and gas pipe reallocation and waiving the project's development fees.
Council also voted on an additional motion put forward by Coun. Stoner to direct District staff to “work with the project proponents to approach FortisBC and request a financial contribution towards moving the gas line in 39900 Government Road.”
For more information on the affordable and supportive housing project, visit the District of Squamish website.
