By Steve Hubrecht
The proposed Columbia Valley Metis Association (CVMA)-Metis Nation British Columbia (MNBC) affordable housing project in Invermere took another small step to becoming reality last week, although there are still many more steps to come.
Invermere council gave third reading to Official Community Plan (OCP) and zoning bylaw amendments that will pave the way for the project. But they have not yet adopted those changes, and they won’t until the CVMA and MNBC apply for (and council approves) a residential infill development permit. If and when the changes are eventually adopted, the project proponents would then also need a building permit from the District of Invermere before they can begin construction.
The project leapt to public attention earlier this spring. Initial plans called for a four-storey building of rent-geared-to-income housing and a CVMA community cultural centre to be built on a large lot fronting onto 13th Street, and backed onto by 11th Avenue.
An initial public hearing in April drew a large crowd of 150 to 160 people, some in support of the project, others opposed. Based on feedback from that meeting, the CVMA and MNBC then altered the proposal from four storeys down to three and eliminated the cultural centre from the plan. A second public hearing in early September drew a substantially smaller crowd of 50 to 60 residents. Again, some were in support of the project while others were opposed.
“There’s been a lot of input,” said Invermere planner Rory Hromadnik during Invermere council’s Tuesday, Sept. 24 meeting.
Invermere councillor Theresa Wood pointed out that a lack of housing, affordable housing in particular, was a hot topic of discussion at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) convention held earlier in September, and it is something almost all communities in the province — Invermere included — are struggling with.
“Here we have a fantastic opportunity to work with people (the CVMA and MNBC) who have been working hard to address that in our community,” she said. Wood added that it is easy to look back at provincial and federal decisions made decades ago and bemoan the lost opportunities to create more housing then. She said that if Invermere council doesn’t support this project now, in 20 years time people may, in a similar vein, look back and view it as a major opportunity wasted.
“If this proposal had been submitted by a private developer, we never even would have gone to a public hearing,” said councillor Gerry Taft. Even with the fourth storey and cultural centre gone from the plan, “there are still people opposed. I’m sympathetic to that, but we need the housing. We need not-for-profit rental housing,” he said, adding that private developers are simply not building rental housing.
Taft added third reading is “not a blank cheque. It’s a conditional approval”; that the form and character of the development are important; and that council needs to make sure that “what is shown in the plan is what gets built.”
This refers to the residential infill development permit, which allows council to keep control of the style of the development (i.e. no major changes to the design plans). It also means the high-density zoning sought by CMVA and MNBC would not necessarily remain in place on the property, should the affordable housing project not come to fruition and the land instead be sold.
A few residents at the public hearings expressed concern about just that happening, worried the land could ultimately end up as a private, for-profit high-density development, instead of a non-profit affordable housing project.
As the discussion wound down, Invermere Mayor Al Miller emphasized the need for a new mindset.
“It’s different,” he said of the affordable housing project. “But we have to realize that going forward things are going to be different in Invermere when it comes to housing . . . the day and age of almost everyone having a single family dwelling, we were very fortunate to have that, but that’s not the reality for everyone anymore.”
The public gallery at the council meeting was almost completely full (with an audience of 25). About half were members of the CVMA, while the other half were there with short-term rental (STR) concerns. Several CVMA members applauded Invermere council after the third reading.
