Seventeen new addresses will soon be opened in Quesnel.
After a long process of development, a commercial building at 668 Doherty Drive will soon be converted into a 17-unit apartment building. The target audience for this new building will be low-income residents.
The final hurdle, cleared at the April 9 public meeting of Quesnel city council, was the issue of parking. Only three stalls had been allocated by the proponent of the project, and that was not enough for the liking of municipal staff and councillors who worried that would turn into many vehicles finding haphazard street parking, and thus get in the way of snow clearing and other services.
“The proponent has agreed to covenant one of their properties which is right across the street to allow eight additional parking stalls on that property, bringing the total up to 11,” said Tanya Turner, director of development services for the City of Quesnel.
By reserving that amount of space at 290 Anderson Drive, council was satisfied that there would be enough parking to allow for the housing opportunity.
“We have had a lot of conversations with the applicant that this property is intended for lower income and for persons that probably won’t (have a vehicle),” Turner said. “We did have some conversations with other providers of low-income facilities in the community, and they say about 50 per cent is kind of a good number,” for that socioeconomic segment of resident.
If the apartment complex catered to seniors, the experience of housing providers is about 30 per cent would be needed.
“So the concerns, I believe, for parking would be greatly reduced if not diminished for this facility,” by having the 11 reserved spots, said Turner.
Coun. Deb McKelvie commented that she was pleased to see municipal staff work so proactively with the applicant to make sure the proposal got to a “yes” answer.
Coun. Martin Runge stressed that the covenant, in his view, must be robustly applied to ensure any future changes to the property still resulted in parking being ironclad for that apartment building.
Coun. Mitch Vik wanted to clarify that the parking be in place at the time the complex opened, not delayed past the initial occupancy of the new building.
It was noted in Turner’s written report to council on this matter that the proposed apartment complex was within walking distance “to stores, restaurants and coffee shops, hair salons, walking trails, parks, and schools, and additionally, falls directly on a bus stop.
Downtown Quesnel is accessible via bus or walking, offering ease to those with medical appointments, shopping, or job opportunities.”
With all outstanding items then addressed, the motion to allow the conversion was carried unanimously.
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