Councillors in Gibsons have authorized a 99-year lease that will allow the Sunshine Coast Affordable Housing Society to build rental units on a former road dedication at Franklin Road and Harmony Lane.
Council considered a host of options for its first project with the Society at the May 8 council meeting, from a single-family home with a secondary suite to a five-unit apartment block. They also looked at options for the land tenure and how much money the Town should contribute.
Mayor Wayne Rowe said he felt the lease option gives the Town more certainty than handing over title to the society. “We’re testing the waters and we hope it’s going to go the way everyone would like it to, but I think it’s best that we retain the ability of the Town to take the land back should it be necessary.”
When asked by Rowe if that was realistic, Society representative Dion Whyte said they’d be open to considering any option that fit the Town’s zoning requirements.
Whyte also said a long-term lease instead of ownership won’t impact the Society’s ability to get funding from BC Housing or the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. “Our priority is to see a project move forward, and we’re not hung up on the type of land tenure,” he said.
Coun. Charlene SanJenko said she wasn’t certain the community would support that many units on a small lot, and the option for a home with a secondary suite and garden house – a total of three units – was the better option. “For the first one out of the gate, my feeling is it would be nice to move it forward as smoothly, positively, successfully as possible for our first project and to me that felt like the three units.”
Regardless of the number, the Housing Society would be required under the agreement with the Town to rent all units at 75 per cent of market value.
On the financial side, council approved giving the Society $50,000 from the affordable housing reserve.
Councillors also discussed whether to review the Town’s affordable housing and community amenities policy to look at questions like guidelines for use of the funds in the affordable housing reserve, disposition of land for affordable housing and how to set “fair affordable housing and community amenity contributions.”
Coun. Stafford Lumley suggested that it might also be time to consider requiring developers to build affordable units as part of their projects instead of making cash contributions to the reserve.
“I think we’re letting developers off the hook by just taking money from them. As we can see, just taking money from a developer [means] we have to find a way to use the money,” Lumley said. “This project is a good example of how long it might take to spend $50,000.”
