City of Powell River has approved a variance permit for Life Cycle Housing Society’s Cranberry Place affordable housing development that is proposed for the Cranberry Street corridor.
At the July 15 city council meeting, councillors approved a number of variances pertaining to sidewalks, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, street lighting and other details related to construction of the 24-unit multifamily residential development. According to a staff report, the final step before this project can move to the building permit stage is consideration of the development variance permit application that proposes to vary some off-site works and services along Ortona Avenue, Normandy Court and Dieppe Crescent.
Councillor Rob Southcott said this variance permit pertains to such things as upgrades that normally would be required on Ortona and relate to the width of pavement that normally would be required there.
He said the other relaxation pertains to sidewalks on Dieppe that would normally be required and lighting that is possibly redundant.
“This development is such a welcome development and I wholeheartedly support the acceptance and passage of the variance,” said Southcott.
Councillor Cindy Elliott said Cranberry is her community and she is looking forward to having new neighbours there. She said with respect to sidewalks that were to come down to Dieppe, it was thought that the grade was quite steep. She said the city negotiated a wheelchair accessible ramp coming from the development itself down to the Cranberry Street sidewalk with proper sloping.
“It was thought to be a lot safer than having folks on a sidewalk that was on a steep incline, so I think that was one of the reasons we were looking at putting that variance there,” said Elliott. “It made good sense and so I’m in favour of the variance.”
Councillor George Doubt said the proponents, people who want to build the housing facility, came to council quite a few times and listened to what council and the public had to say about accessibility and a walkable neighbourhood. He said there were quite a few changes to the original plan.
“If you make it more walkable and accessible to people with walkers and wheelchairs, we appreciate that,” said Doubt. “The variances we’re talking about granting are the kinds of things people suggest councils do to make it possible to create affordable housing within the budgets of organizations. We’re doing that.
“I’ve had conversations with people who have asked me why we would go ahead and do this against the advice of engineering staff on some of the changes to Ortona, particularly because there is developable property above Ortona, but in my mind it was just looking at the future possibilities of the development of that privately managed forest land. There are many other ways to service that block of land other than Ortona. This is a good compromise and it gets some much-needed housing for our community.”
Mayor in '100 per cent' support
Mayor Dave Formosa said the project is being developed by a nonprofit organization, not a developer. He said it’s driven by people who volunteer their time for the good of others.
“Council and staff worked diligently with them to help where we could, reasonably, and where we couldn’t, we didn’t,” added Formosa. “We have the good fortune of council members living in the area, who understood things around the wheelchair accessibility, and we were able to negotiate where we wanted the sidewalks, and where we let things slide a little.
“The benefits to the amount of housing we are getting in conjunction to what we had there is expanded housing for more people who require affordable, decent housing. I also back this up 100 per cent.”
Formosa said he believes finances are tight, because when the project started a few years ago, construction costs were not what they are today.
“We’re just lucky it’s going ahead, that’s my view,” added Formosa.
Council unanimously supported the variance permit.
