Banff politicians have given first reading of a bylaw to allow the municipality to borrow money to pay for the purchase of land for an affordable housing development to deal with the town’s housing crisis.
At a meeting on Monday (Jan. 11), council gave first reading of the bylaw so it can borrow $965,000 over 30 years to finance the purchase of 12 parcels of land from Parks Canada at 535-547 Deer Street and 145-155 Cave Avenue to build multi-unit rental housing.
Officials say consideration of second and third reading would occur on Feb. 8 to allow for a two-week period to advertise the bylaw, given the Municipal Government Act stipulates any borrowing exceeding five years must be advertised in at least one newspaper.
“This is one of the first steps in the development of an affordable housing project in the town,” said Chris Hughes, senior accountant for the Town of Banff.
“What this bylaw allows us to do is borrow $965,000 for the acquisition of all the lots, demolition costs and pre-engineering work in terms of site surveys and geotechnical work that needs to be done in order to determine how we can move forward on these lands.”
The interest rate as of Jan. 1, 2016 is 3.175 per cent. The Town of Banff is borrowing the $965,000 over a 30-year term, and plans to use rent collected from the eventual housing developments to pay back the debt.
The cost of the lots – which had a market assessed value of $6.7 million – to the Town of Banff was $550,000. The Town of Banff’s share of demolition costs for existing buildings is about $250,000 and pre-engineering work will make up the balance of the $965,000.
The Town of Banff has a goal to build 100 rental units by 2018 to deal with the housing shortage, with the private sector expected to build another 300 units. Studies estimate the shortfall to be anywhere between 450 and 700 housing units by 2022.
Banff’s rental vacancy rates have been hovering around zero for the past few years, when a healthy vacancy rate is considered to be between three and five per cent. Banff also has very high rental costs.
Some councillors raised concern there is confusion about the Deer Street location, noting the lots are not actually on Deer Street as it is known.
Councillor Chip Olver said she suggests the area be renamed the Deer Street laneway, or access road, or be given a completely new name.
“In my mind, Deer Street is never going to be continued to access this development,” she said. “Calling this Deer Street is not the right name. It’s too confusing as to the location.”
Kelly Gibson, the Town of Banff’s corporate services manager, said the intent is to change the name, but the legal address must be used for the purpose of the borrowing bylaw.
“We can look at using better wording,” he said.
