Okotoks council closes door on tiny home plan
An effort to put a dent in the affordable housing “crisis” in Okotoks has been fundamentally defeated, nearly two years after talks between the town and the developer first started.
Okotoks council voted to accept a 2,981-signature petition, and its corresponding bylaw, in opposition to using taxpayer dollars to fund the tiny homes project at their Monday night meeting.
Following the unanimous vote for first reading of the Homestead Project Tiny Homes Ecovillage Petition Bylaw, councillor Tanya Thorn introduced a motion against allowing a plebiscite that was passed 5-2.
Mayor Bill Robertson and Coun. Ed Sands voted against the motion.
Council will now address second and third readings of the bylaw at their Sept. 9 meeting, effectively closing the door on the tiny homes portion of the project if approved.
“In the last few weeks, we’ve come to expect this but we’re still really disappointed,” said Thomas Grenier, owner of the developer Vagabond Tiny Homes and non-profit Realize Communities. “It’s something we’ve really invested a lot of heart and passion into to see it go down this way.”
Grenier said he believes the public was “misled” by the Okotoks Ratepayers Community Group who circulated the petition and that the investment aspect of the project was overlooked by residents.
“In our final agreement with the town, they would have made around $6 million off of its investment of $3.4 million to develop the land,” he said. “After the 60-year life of the community, the town would keep the infrastructure ... the community building and solar cells could have been used for another half-century.”
Realize Communities would have also contributed $1.6 million in land development fees and operating costs over the term of the agreement which the town will now be responsible for in any future development.
With the year-end deadline approaching for Realize Communities to use the $4.4 million grant from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., they’ve been left with little choice but to look elsewhere, Grenier said.
“At this point we’re actively seeking out other communities to be able to utilize the investment,” he said.
“Not to say we wouldn’t be open with working with Okotoks in the future.”
Councillor Thorn said she thinks it was “right decision” for council to make and looks forward to having more conversations about addressing the town’s recent housing needs assessment and finding an appropriate use for the land.
“I want to see us being able to address a bigger demographic and meet a bigger need in potentially a more traditional way,” she said.
Any future development on the land in question will need to fit within recreational, educational and community uses.
At minimum, the town must grade the 10 acres and erect a park with a pathway system that connects to the rest of the community.
“We need to take a step forward in a positive manner, respect what residents have told us, regroup and move forward as a whole community,” Thorn said.
“I think some of this has divided our community and that’s not effective.”
Grenier added the outcome is a “double-edged sword” for residents who will still be on the hook for whatever council ultimately decides to use that land for.
“I appreciate Alberta is in a hard economic climate ... but I think in this hard time our ability to come together to ease the burden for people living in this province so they can be successful will really be a marker of whether we can ride this out or cave to the economic instability.”