Viability of project threatened by requirements for LEED certification and number of affordable housing units.
Council waters down Central Green affordable housing, environmental targets
Council waters down Central Green affordable housing, environmental targets
| Started 3 years ago by John McDonald | (5 posts) (2 voices) |
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Posted 3 years ago #
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Posted by unregistered user: John Zeger
I’m surprised that this article doesn’t mention that Councillor Charlie Hodge was the only one who voted against the staff proposal as he thought it was insufficiently stringent. Furthermore, it also wasn’t reported that Angela Reid said she would bite the bullet on this one but push for stronger requirements in the future. Manana, Angela, manana.
If Kelowna city council cannot require that developers meet the standards of LEED Gold and 20% affordable housing in its showcase Central Green project, where is the hope for projects elsewhere in the city? There is none. Kelowna continues to move towards both environmental and social unsustainability quicker than one can say Green Party.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Posted by unregistered user: FYEO
“Affordable Housing” functions on disposable income and cost. Mandating higher construction costs (LEEDS Gold) is counter productive. If the City wants affordable housing then the City should participate with policies that actually promote the means to an end. The City needs consider discounting the value of its land for these projects, ease ridiculous building standards, back off on DCC’s; otherwise nobody is going to come to your party when the lots are released. BTW, this market already has plenty of affordable housing, they’re called MHP’s.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Posted by unregistered user: Phil
I have to agree with John that this “watering down” seems to be rather backwards where right now we talk about the desperate need of Low Income housing as well as the City of Kelowna wants to be this “Green and Beautiful” City.
I guess we want to be green and think about low income housing… when its convenient.
Posted 3 years ago # -
Posted by unregistered user: John Zeger
In response to FYEO, just lifting most restrictions on housing development will not produce more affordable housing in the city as developers will continue to produce what is most profitable for them to sell, and housing at affordable prices simply isn’t. The only way to get them to turn out affordable housing in an meaningful quantity is to mandate that a certain percentage of all units in a project be sold at affordable prices. That’s called “inclusionary housing” and the practice is widely used in the U.S.
Also we cannot sacrifice our environmental standards to increase the quantity of housing units on the market otherwise before too long we won’t have a sustainable planet to live on.
Regarding MHPs, if you mean mobile home parks, many are disappearing from the city as developers find it more profitable to build higher density projects on the land they occupy. For details contact Phil Milroy.
Posted 3 years ago #
