After a massive turnout to a public hearing, council decided to wait until next week for a vote that would approve the first step in a land deal to fund a high-capacity seniors housing project.
Residents had the opportunity on Tuesday to comment on the six-storey market building proposed for 38201 Third Ave., the current site of The Cedars and The Manors buildings.
If approved, the project would allow the Squamish Senior Citizens Home Society to sell the land to Polygon Homes in order to fund a development at 38275 Third Ave. for a five-storey affordable seniors complex with 232 units of seniors housing.
Supporters of the project who spoke on Tuesday night noted the growing need for affordable housing, particularly for seniors, and the increasingly rough condition of the existing senior’s buildings at The Manor and The Cedars.
Resident David Caldwell thanked Seniors Society executive director Laura Modray for her work on the deal.
“Our place is a real — it’s a real dump,” said Caldwell, adding that among many issues, the aging buildings have temperamental toilets.
“I don’t have to climb the Chief to have scary moments, and I can tell you all you need to know about toilet plungers,” he said.
With less humour, maintenance person and resident Michael Driver said the current situation is ongoing and expensive. He described leaks from old copper pipes that sometimes require temporary evacuation of residents from their homes.
“All of us who live there are happy, we don’t want to be seen as complaining, but it is getting very expensive [...] to repair units, and it does look like something that would be ongoing,” he said.
Without selling the land, Modray said the best the organization could expect with their current available funding is 40 new units.
“[The deal with Polygon] is like Christmas for a non-profit housing provider,” she said.
Modray said the estimated construction cost of the new seniors building has been in flux, but currently sits around $49-million.
Funding will come from the sale of the land, $3.6 million in community amenity contributions from the developer and assistance in the form of a $9.5 million grant from BC Housing.
The Society will also need to take on a long-term mortgage backed by the province.
Naomi Brunemeyer, BC Housing’s director of regional development for the Lower Mainland, urged council to support the project and commended the society for coming up with a solution before the older buildings become uninhabitable.
“The reality is to keep those rents affordable; you can’t have a high mortgage to pay down,” she said. “[The society’s] mandate to keep those units affordable is more important than that land.”
In the new building, tenants will need to pay for hydro and cable television. Tenants will be able to apply for the Shelter Aid For Elderly Renters (SAFER) program.
Representatives from the Squamish Helping Hands Society, Sea to Sky Community Services Society and the Howe Sound Women’s Centre expressed support for the project on Tuesday night.
Criticism of the project included concern by nearby residents over the proposed height of the building at 38275 Third Avenue.
A few speakers also said the commercial space proposed for 10 per cent of the new Polygon building should be focused on seniors, rather than a daycare.
Lisa Friesen, the manager of the Shannon Falls Retirement Residence, said many of her residents are concerned about the proposed neighbouring building, including the space for businesses and increased traffic.
A number of speakers on Tuesday night expressed general frustration with the agreement between the Seniors Society and Polygon Homes that would sacrifice land originally intended for more seniors housing.
Former mayor Corinne Lonsdale submitted a letter to council saying she is “very much opposed to the present initiative” and added that council should try to work with the Seniors Society to fund a project without trading land to Polygon. “Please consider the seniors of tomorrow. That land was meant to meet their needs,” she wrote.
“We are not building today to meet the needs of our community but meeting instead the desires of the developers.”
Mayor Patricia Heintzman said council will make a decision on third reading next week.
