The Town of Canmore is looking for developers interested in partnering on designing and building a project on land it owns along Palliser Trail.
The municipality owns a parcel of land at 1451 Palliser Trail, also known as the moustache lands as the highway interchange resembles a furry lip-warmer from above.
General manager of municipal infrastructure Michael Fark said the municipality is issuing an official expression of interest request to see what possibilities arise as to possible private sector partnerships.
“Canmore has a near zero rental vacancy for the last four years and the lack of affordable and available housing is the number one concern for residents and businesses to attract and retain employees,” Fark said. “This is one way to involve the private sector to address community housing needs.”
He said in the past 20 years development in Canmore has been focused on a build it and sell it model for higher end homes on the market and that has not met the needs for housing affordability or availability in the community.
But that might be changing, according to Fark, who said the current economic climate creates an investment profile more favourable for building and renting out in the longer term as a business model.
“We have been seeing a fair degree of interest in the private sector exploring the possibility of developing in Canmore that is different than the traditional build and sell model prevalent in the past,” he said.
The biggest hurdle for developing affordable housing solutions is the availability of suitable land. Recent conversations around housing, including the Livable Canmore process, have encouraged the municipality to explore all possible models for providing housing, not just what is available through Canmore Community Housing Corporation. CCHC is a municipally owned corporation and offers perpetually affordable housing in both rental and ownership models. Both have income thresholds and the rental housing they have must be below market rental rates.
Fark said the purpose of putting out a call for expressions of interest is to explore the possibility of partnering with the private sector to develop employee housing or rental accommodation on the land owned by the municipality. He said there has already been interest from the private sector, but by putting out an official request to submit interest in the project, it creates a level playing field for all developers.
“Administration really favours the approach of giving industry notice,” Fark said. “Essentially, what we want to do is say there is a parcel of land and explain to us how you can best meet the town’s needs in a way that is profitable to you and meets the community’s needs as well.”
Council voted unanimously to approve the release of the EOI process for the possible private partnership development opportunity.
Mayor John Borrowman said the municipality can only do so much when it comes to developing housing in the community and he hopes the local development community steps up to the challenge with this particular lot.
“We have been encouraging as best we can that the private sector become involved in addressing this issue,” he said.
