Yet another plan has emerged to find a new home for the Howe Sound Women's Centre and Sea to Sky Community Services.
The two services have been asked to move from their Loggers Lane location to make room for a waterfront residential project by Westmana Development Corporation.
Westmana principal René David said he would like the groups moved out by February to allow for site preparation in the spring. But a lack of affordable downtown property has left the non-profit groups with few prospects.On Tuesday (Jan. 22) council agreed that if Westmana made a cash contribution to the groups, it would be credited toward an amenities package.
"Any cash that goes to these third party organizations from Westmana, the district would write off soft amenities," said district planner Cameron Chalmers. "We're probably talking about affordable housing."
He said the agreement would not interfere with plans for green space or a proposed waterfront walkway, but it could significantly slash the project's affordable and adaptive housing contributions.
"There's not a lot of wiggle room for us, it would take care of a lot of those," Chalmers said.
The idea came together just hours before the meeting. Chalmers said the idea came together at 12:20 p.m. and he wrote up the proposed agreement over his lunch break. It was squeezed onto the meeting's agenda as it was being called to order. Although council cannot formally pass a motion in a strategy session, Mayor Ian Sutherland said a decision had to be made since the funding was needed immediately.
"It's coming down to the point where something has to be done on way or the other," said Sutherland. "Maybe we should say to the groups, 'This is what we're doing for you, we really don't want to see you back here for Grant in Aid next year."
Several councillors seemed hesitant to barter with affordable housing but all agreed the services were invaluable to the community.
"We'd be directing our money to the Women's Centre and Sea to Sky Community Services, which are both social organizations, which we've never seen it as our obligation to fund," said Coun. Greg Gardner.
He asked what would happen if the project was not approved, leaving no amenities budget to tap into.Chalmers said in that case the district would not be responsible for reimbursing the funds given by Westmana.Coun. Corinne Lonsdale said she would like to see a cap on the amount of money that could be credited to the amenities package so it would not affect anything more than the affordable housing component.
"We're almost being asked to sign a blank cheque," she said.
Chalmers said such a cap was not optimal since it could limit the amount Westmana chooses to contribute. The proponent David was not available to comment on how much the company is willing to fund. Earlier in the month Westmana announced it would take part in a dollar-to-dollar campaign with a limit of $100,000 to fund the move. The proponent had also offered to help with the costs of moving the current building to a new site.Sutherland said this offer was "starting from scratch" and would not build on previous ones.
All of council voted in favour of the agreement. Kahlon noted it was time to consider a men's shelter."We're trying to please one part of the community," he said.
