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Temporary housing project clears first hurdle, barely

H.O.M.E. proponents get go-ahead to approach manufacturers to determine costs
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Ralph Forsyth

Many businesses around town hope a village of temporary modular homes for seasonal workers will still be a reality as early as this fall, despite a lack of secure financing or a business plan.

“It has to be ready by this fall,” said Ralph Forsyth, co-chair of the H.O.M.E. committee, a task force developed by local businesses to find a solution to Whistler‘s housing crunch.

“It takes no effort and energy to say this is too difficult. You have to make it happen yourself. If there is a general political will, we will find a way.”

The committee’s determination to get the housing ready in six months took heat from several council members this week, since only the bare bones of the project have been assembled to date.

The group has gotten confirmation from prominent businesses that the proposed units will be used for employee housing and a site has been found to locate the temporary village. However the same businesses have not yet committed money and the proposed site — located opposite Mons road — still needs to be rezoned.

At Monday’s council Meeting, councillors Bob Lorrimon and Tim Wake, along with mayor Ken Melamed, stressed that while they support the H.O.M.E. plan in principle they are hesitant to commit municipal hall to anything that might later cost taxpayers money.

“There is a history of projects being started under one set of assumptions and then eventually the municipality and the taxpayer is put on the hook for it,” said Melamed, drawing an analogy to the inconclusive Rainbow development.

“If the day comes that there is a budgetary gap to maintain the housing, then my fear is the ask is going to come to us. We can’t put the taxpayer and the community at risk.”

Melamed also said that even with the help of municipal hall, the development will likely take a year to complete. If the development is expedited, it would mark the first time that council has relaxed the current policy approach to allow temporary housing.

“We are not going to violate good planning process and procedure… Come to us with a finished plan and money in the bank. Our staff are prepared to go the extra mile, but it is not our responsibility,” he said.

Forsyth said he was disappointed with the outcome of the council meeting. The H.O.M.E. committee was hoping for more direct support from municipal hall to get the plan off the ground.

“We didn’t get everything that I was hoping for, but we have a green light to move forward with it, and it was approved in principle,” said councillor Forsyth.

“The next step for the H.O.M.E. committee is to find someone to put the pieces of the puzzle together, such as a developer or an expeditor.”

Louise Lundy, president of the Chamber of Commerce, agreed that the project is still on track to be done by this winter. She said the chamber is committed to putting every effort into finding temporary housing for workers until after the Games in 2010.

“Frankly what the mayor was expressing was that a project like this will take just so long just to organize,” she said.

“My response to that is then should we do nothing? We are just not prepared at this point to say ‘let’s give up and do nothing.’”

Lundy also said that the H.O.M.E. committee achieved what it went to the meeting to achieve, and that there was a clear message from municipal hall that they were not prepared to fund anything.

“I think that is fair. They have a lot on their plate. I am just happy we’ve gotten approval to move forward and go to various companies and get real quotes,” she said.

The next step for the H.O.M.E. committee is to get cost quotes from interested modular home providers. Providers did not want to give a cost estimate until council showed a commitment to help expedite the zoning of the property, owned by Steve Bayly and Nigel Woods. This commitment was given on Monday.

Lundy said that the committee also has to understand what the actual costs will be so they can work out a definite per bed cost. And there is the issue of rezoning of the land, understanding the time frame for clearing and servicing the Bayly land, and confirming that the development would be possible by next winter.

“There are a number of factors that need to be really researched in great detail and we will probably end up hiring somebody to do just that so we have a person at a desk focused at this full time instead of a group of volunteers who are doing it off the corner of their desk,” said Lundy.

Bayly has offered four acres from his plot of land north of the village for the group to lease for free for two years starting this fall and ending around July 2010. The land is currently zoned for a single family home.

According to Lundy, this is the only site possible to build the proposed temporary neighbourhood. The area is flat, serviced and is within walking distance to the village.

By building the temporary neighbourhood, the H.O.M.E. committee hopes to bring an additional 250 beds to Whistler at about $575 to $675 each. The housing units would either be trailers, portable modular housing or modified containers.

Currently there is not much money for the project to work with. From the original $30,000 that was invested into the H.O.M.E. project about $15,000 remains.

“We do have some money left over, so we may end up using those funds, assuming the board approves that to hire somebody to move the initiative forward,” said Lundy.

H.O.M.E. is a partnership between the Whistler Chamber of Commerce and the Whistler Housing Authority. It was started in 2006 to help address the critical housing shortage after Whistler lost 137 affordable beds with the closing of the Shoestring Lodge.

Two councillors – Forsyth and Gord McKeever – sit on the H.O.M.E. committee.