LOUISE LOIK
Editor
Currently, there is one rental on the market. In fact, by the time this goes to print, that place will likely be rented.Mayor Murray Skeels says that the municipality is working with Snug Cove House to facilitate 18 units of small lot and duplex units. “They probably won’t be rentals, but they will create less expensive smaller homes.”
In addition to these smaller homes, the municipality is also “moving quickly to sell the piece of land across from the Undercurrent office. It could provide up to 16 strata units at 1,000 sq. ft. each.” At the same time as these projects are underway, there is also the potential to amend the OCP in order to rezone and “make more of the Community Lands available for small lot housing.”
Skeels says the community will have a chance to give their input on another possible big change for the community. Public hearings at the end of May will focus on the issue of whether or not to allow a property owner to rezone relatively small residential lots to create two-unit strata corporations. “It’s like duplex zoning except that both owners would share in building and grounds maintenance. The rub is that it would replace secondary suites with solid units. However, if it goes ahead, it could signal a move on the island to embrace “eco-density.” This would allow the community to pack in as many houses as possible in useable space. “It should be an interesting debate,” says Skeels. Already, the moniker “Boquitlam,” is being used to refer to some of the suburban style development on Bowen. Increasing density becomes a bit of a balancing act to provide needed housing without a suburban feel.
Another issue is that locals must compete for rental housing and lower cost home ownership with a growing tide of mainlanders priced out of Vancouver.One idea is to consider regulation along the lines of the "need to reside" requirements common in parts of Europe and in Banff. Homeowners give first option to locals who need to stay in the area because of work, or because they are already living within the community but have to move to a new rental. Banff has created a Housing Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Town of Banff, in order to build 100 multi-unit, affordable rental housing units by 2018. The Banff Housing Corporation is an arm’s length, non-profit organization of the Town of Banff. Its mission is “to help the town maintain a healthy and balanced community by offering both price restricted and equity share home ownership for those working in Banff.”
Tim Wake and developer David Sorenson, are floating a similar concept. Their idea is to get the community on board with swapping 11 of the 34 acres of Crippen Park for community surplus lands in the vicinity between Snug Cove House and the Community School. Though the proposal was rejected once already by the GVRD, Wake says he and Sorensen will keep trying. They want GVRD to let them, on behalf of the community, take over the Orchard Cottages, save the cottages slated for demolition, and refurbish them to sell. He would like to set it up so locals in need of accommodation get first crack at the housing, similar to the idea in Banff. They would like to put housing where the new fire hall and ambulance station are slated to be built, and get that project moved. They would want to widen the road through the cove to allow for angled parking, and simultaneously “suggest new nesting sites for the herons” by providing poles with platforms for new nest sites-- something Wake says has been successful in other developments. “We are forming a community housing trust to deliver these things,“ says Wake, who adds that momentum for the idea has been building over the last eight weeks as the real estate market on Bowen has taken off. The exchange would give GVRD better parkland as well, says Wake. Meanwhile, John Reid’s development at Grafton Lake, which includes affordable housing, is in its initial stages of site preparation and the municipality is moving as fast as possible to accommodate the community needs.
