Habitat for Humanity Sunshine Coast was thrilled to get back to work at their Wilson Creek site last week, after Sechelt council decided to issue the group a development permit despite a zoning issue found by staff that originally stopped construction.
When Habitat for Humanity applied for a building permit in April to construct a fifth duplex at their Sunshine Coast Village property in Wilson Creek, staff found the zoning in place was for tri-clustered housing, not duplexes.
The discrepancy held up issuance of a development permit, which led to the loss of labour from high school students in the ACE-IT program, who usually help frame and erect duplexes for Habitat during the school year.
After working with staff for several weeks to resolve the issue, Thomas Smith of Habitat for Humanity Sunshine Coast brought the problem to council’s attention last month.
Councillors seemed sympathetic, and during an in-camera meeting later decided not to enforce the district’s zoning bylaw provision stipulating construction must be tri-clustered, and directed staff to issue a building permit to Habitat.
The move was made on the condition that Habitat be advised they were building while not in compliance with the current zoning bylaw and therefore “do so at their own risk.”
The risk would be that when the rezoning comes to council to officially allow duplexes at the Sunshine Coast Village site, council could deny the request.
Smith said he’s not concerned about that possibility, as there are already several duplexes built on the site, and noted he’s very appreciative council “saw their way clear to let us proceed.”
“In terms of what it’s meant, it meant that we poured concrete last week. We’ve stripped the forms now, we can return them to the company that we were renting them from and we are just waiting on an inspection on our tile drains around the perimeter of the footings so that we can backfill, and that should happen soon,” Smith said.
“Then, next Monday [June 19], I think we’re seeing a little lumber come in and the students are going to get busy starting to frame the house.”
ACE-IT students will have about two weeks on the job before the school year ends.
Thomas said members of Habitat are already planning for next year’s build and getting all the proper permits and zoning in place early so the non-profit organization can take advantage of student help as soon as possible in 2018.
“Ideally we’d like to have a building permit in our hands around Christmastime so that by February, we can have the students there, through until June, so they can get the broadest amount of experience,” Thomas said, noting the volunteer help is also integral to Habitat’s goal of building one duplex a year.
He expects the current duplex under construction will take at least until the end of the year to complete, depending on how much volunteer help is available.
“After the students leave, the rest of the framing will have to be done with one paid staff member there and volunteers,” he said.
If you would like to volunteer to help, stop in to talk to someone at the ReStore in Sechelt or check out the list of volunteer opportunities at www.habitatsc.ca, where you can sign up to aid Habitat’s efforts.
Habitat for Humanity Sunshine Coast is a non-profit organization dedicated to building affordable homes for people who need them on the Coast.
Families in need are selected by Habitat to receive a home and after putting sweat equity into the build, they’re offered a no-interest mortgage with zero down payment and monthly payments capped at 30 per cent of the family’s income.
