A long-time Squamish resident is pioneering a new approach to affordable housing that would bring to town a building every bit as distinctive as the Squamish Adventure Centre.
The idea comes from Peter Legere's Whole Valley Plan, a concept he has spent the last 20 years crafting."I'm compelled to show Squamish what its potential is," said Legere. "I plan on finding someone that can basically do the Whole Valley Plan and put it on Google Earth so everyone can see it."
Much like the Official Community Plan, the Whole Valley Plan provides direction for land-use, transportation and drainage. It suggests redirecting the Mamquam River back to its original estuary route before the 1920s floods.
Legere said this would eliminate the need for the town's three pumping stations, meanwhile creating 40 hectares of new fish habitat.One of the plan's signature features is the proposed building Habitat 2020. The circular structure would consist of six stories stacked like a staircase, effectively creating a round pyramid with a hollow courtyard centre.
For the building to sit on its proposed home, single-home residential project would have to be scrapped. Habitat 2020 is designed for the lands now slated for the Logger's Lane development. The high-density project received third reading by council in early October. It is one Legere adamantly objects to.
"I'm convinced that the subdivision that's proposed for this piece of property is just the absolute wrong thing," he said, pointing out it would close the door to returning to Mamquam River to its estuary.
Although Coun. Patricia Heintzman has not been able to take a close look at Habitat 2020, she said she's impressed by the building's environmentally friendly designs.Habitat 2020 would be a cement structure, created in modules onsite using gravel from the river's edge. With heat from geothermic energy, it would have a relatively small carbon footprint.
"I think the misnomer out there is that building green is unaffordable," she said, adding that geothermic energy would make the units much more affordable in the long run.
Legere has not yet priced out the building, but he said he would like to see 1000 square foot units selling for $200,000. He is currently recruiting members for his group, Guerilla Planners to get the community thinking more seriously about his idea.
On Thursday (Nov. 8) Legere staged a "Guerilla Planning Attack" where he handed out pamphlets on Habitat 2020 as people entered an open house on the Official Community Plan.
Legere says he has given up getting council's support, and is now trying to entice the future developer of Logger's Lane to consider his design.
So far, he has had no response, but says another well-established developer has shown interest in his idea and could potentially buy the current owner out.
"There's a lot more money and a lot more fame to this," he said. Legere describes the building as iconic.
One potential roadblock for Legere is the possibility the building could isolate the town's less wealthy residents into one uniform complex. At the crux of the district's proposed affordable housing plan is the mandate to blend residents of varied incomes into mixed communities.But Legere said the building owners could ensure Habitat 2020 didn't become the centre of low-income stigmatization.
"The strata council would look after who's living in this subsidized housing. That way they'd get to sort out who'd live in this place. Sort out the drug dealers from the single mothers who really need this place."
