“We keep talking about this development, and the residence keeps getting relegated to the background,” says Snug Cove House board chair Graham Ritchie, in the lead-up to the organization’s AGM.
“This is always the most important message I want to convey. But the sale of residential lots is simply an enabling device to fund the senior’s residence, and the residence is being built to stem the flow of seniors who are being forced to leave our community every year.”
Last Monday (Nov. 14), with the approval of the consent agenda, rezoning for Snug Cove House lands passed through third reading at council. This might have happened much sooner, says Ritchie, but last June, the board came up with a new configuration for layout of housing and the residence on Snug Cove House lands.
“The municipality said yes right away,” says Ritchie. “This new layout will allow the street-level access for the homes on Miller Road, more sun, one more single family lot, and the view from Bowen Court will not be blocked.”
The previous building configuration of the lands would have put the Snug Cove House residence on the top-middle portion, whereas now it will be on the north side – bordered by Crippen Park. It allows for six single-family residence lots along Miller Road, and six duplex lots on the row behind.
“We have a list of about 40 people who are interested in potentially purchasing the lost,” says Ritchie. “Many of these people are seniors who want to get rid of a car, and who don’t want to be dealing with the hills on Bowen any more. So having direct access on Miller Road will make a big difference for them.”
He adds that the current configuration, amounting to a total of 18 dwellings, does not maximize the density for the area.
“If you purchase a duplex lot, you will not be obligated to build a duplex,” he says. “And if you purchase two single family lots, you could potentially build a triplex.”
Ritchie says that officially “marketing” the lots is still on hold, as a number of legal details still need to be sorted.
“Hopefully all of that will be done by Christmas,” he says. “And when the lots get sold, they will fund close to half the cost of the Snug Cove Residence which will have 19 units of housing. Right now, our projected cost for the building is close to $5.5 million.”
If all goes well, he says, the project will be under construction a year from now.
