Canmore Community Housing Corporation is moving forward with a 32-unit, $6.4 million rental housing project at Dyrgas Gate in Three Sisters Mountain Village.
Council received an overview of the project earlier this month and voted unanimously to accept the conceptual plan and authorize CCHC to proceed with development.
General manager of municipal infrastructure Gary Buxton said the development would proceed in two phases; the first would see a 32-unit stacked townhouse development go forward with 16 one-bedroom units, 12 two-bedroom units and four three-bedroom units.
“The strongest need CCHC has found is for one-bedroom rental units, the next level of need is two-bedrooms and lesser in the need spectrum are three bedrooms,” he said. “Phase two would be a potential eight to 16 units on the final one-third of the site that will be driven by what we see in phase one.
“We can adjust the architecture or design of that last building to accommodate the need as we see it.”
Buxton said CCHC is not requesting funding from the municipality at this point, only a nod on the project. The land has a restrictive covenant on it that requires a motion of council for development to proceed.
Mayor John Borrowman noted the community is in “dire” need of affordable housing and was appreciative of the project and the fact CCHC was not asking for funding.
“I really appreciate the approach to funding,” he said. “Not coming to the Town for funding right off the bat, that is great.
“It is really great to see a project finally at this stage and ready to be approved by council, I am certain the community will be very happy with this project.”
Councillor Joanna McCallum noted during last year’s municipal election she heard many people concerned with affordable housing and the project is a “step in the right direction.”
Coun. Sean Krausert said he would like to see more affordable housing projects coming forward in the future as well.
“I don’t expect you will have to be waiting for a couple more terms for the next one,” he said. “I like to see this as the first of several, not just on this site, but other sites.”
Units in the project would be subject to Perpetually Affordable Housing rental criteria and be available to eligible residents at a rent that is no more than 90 per cent of market rents or equivalent. Rents are expected to range from $850 to $1,350.
The project would be at 100 Dyrgas Lane, next to Mountain Haven Co-op and CCHC’s first PAH development, Coyote Ridge.
Construction work will be publicly tendered with a successful contractor working directly for CCHC. It is a conventional design, bid and build method with an architect and engineering consultants retained by CCHC. It is anticipated construction will begin in September with completion in August 2015.
As for funding, the project business plan sets out that financial modelling estimates annual cash flow from rents before financing costs for the first five years to be approximately $275,000.
“CCHC will determine the amount of debt finance that can be accessed based on the project’s cash flow and seek grant funding and no-interest loans for the balance from municipal and CCHC reserve funds and any other sources as appropriate,” states the business plan.
The Town of Canmore’s PAH reserve currently has $1.8 million in it, while the CCHC capital reserve has $649,882, and both are potential sources of capital funding for the project.
CCHC can obtain a loan from a lending institution at commercial rates or obtain a loan from the Town at municipal rates. The later would affect the Town’s debt limit calculations and its ability to assume debt for other projects.
