Now that appeals against Banff's $23.8 million affordable housing development have been dropped, the municipality is set to break ground next month.
Now that appeals against Banff's $23.8 million affordable housing development have been dropped, the municipality is set to break ground next month.
The project is in the final stages of the environmental assessment review process and, if all goes according to plan, the 132-unit Deer Lane apartment building is expected to be ready for occupancy in late summer to early fall 2018.
Before construction can begin, Parks Canada requires the environmental assessment be completed before signing off on the lease.
“We're very, very excited,” said Sharon Oakley, the Town of Banff's housing sustainability manager.
“There's still a desperate need for affordable housing in the community. The timing couldn't be better to construct 132 new rental units.”
Banff's vacancy rate has been at zero per cent for more than three years and situations exist where residents are living in overcrowded or unsafe conditions.
Known as Ti'nu – a word derived from the Nakoda language meaning “come in” – the apartment housing complex will have 132 units made up of studio, one bedroom and two bedroom apartments.
The Town is borrowing for the project and rent will pay off the debt. There is no taxpayer funding.
Information on who will be eligible to rent these units, as well as rental application forms, will be available in the coming months at banff.ca/housing.
Rent proposals or samples were provided previous open houses for the development based on 32 per cent of the median income – studio ($860.38), one-bedroom ($1,122.24), and two-bedroom ($1,645.96).
The actual rents have not been firmly established yet, but Oakley said the Town hopes to confirm rents in the next few months, noting it will be based on both minimum and maximum income.
“If we have so many hundreds of applications, it will probably go to a lottery system,” she said.
Parks Canada sold the lease for 14 lots on Deer Street and Cave Avenue for $550,000. The lots had a market assessment value of $6.7 million.
Parks Canada sold the leases on the condition that only high-density, below-market rental apartments could be built and only by the Town. No other entity could develop the land, and the property can never be resold or become condominiums.
Meanwhile, the landscaping plan for the project was before the municipal planning commission on Wednesday (March 8) for endorsement, but the results of the meeting could not be reported at press time.
