Earlier this week, Sea to Sky Community Services (SSCS) wrapped up its second and final community dialogue session to discuss a new affordable housing project on Harrow Road in Pemberton.
The project, as proposed, will be a five-storey development with 63 affordable housing units on the top four floors with a ground-floor commercial business space, located on the corner of Harrow Road and Highway 99 in Pemberton.
In the works since 2021, the project has been approved for funding by BC Housing and represents a crucial need for the fast-growing community.
“I think [affordable housing] is hugely important. There is such a shortage of rentals in Pemberton, period. And then there is a shortage of affordable rentals in Pemberton,” said SSCS communications and marketing manager Kim Konnert.
“In 2008, a two-bedroom rental averaged about $1,300 per month. In 2021 a two-bedroom rental now costs $2,300 a month, which is a 74-per-cent increase. So again, there’s just a need for rentals in the area and the need for affordable rentals is quite strong.”
According to SSCS, the building will contain a mix of one, two and three-bedroom units, 30 per cent of which will be market rentals, 50 per cent will be “rent geared to income” (or subsidized units for households that meet BC Housing limits), and 20 per cent will be “deep subsidy,” or geared to those with low incomes.
However, as is always the case with new proposed developments, there were some concerns raised by the community during the two dialogue sessions.
Some of the main concerns raised about the development revolved around its height, regarding both the potential to block sight lines and possibly sunlight for some of the nearby residences, as well as the building looking out of place in the village’s small-town aesthetic.
Other community concerns included the parking needs of the building, as well as tax implications for current residents.
Keeping up with the housing and infrastructure needs of a fast-growing town like Pemberton—which is limited in its expansion by multiple factors like dramatic geography, floodplains, and the Agricultural Land Reserve—all while keeping the town’s character, is one of the biggest challenges for Pemberton’s council, according to Mayor Mike Richman.
“Because we are so beautiful and well-located, growth is coming, that demand is there, so balancing that with maintaining the character of Pemberton and the rural and smaller community personality that we have here is definitely a tough balance,” said Richman.
“As development and demand grows, how do we build new housing that doesn’t sprawl into the countryside, that doesn’t change the character of Pemberton? Part of that requires some densification somewhere. And densification is something that’s always a bit of a struggle for people to adapt to at first because it’s a change, but there has to be some somewhere.
“We want to make sure that as we are moving forward, as we open new development lands, that we are building diverse housing, that we are building neighbourhoods that include housing so that they are healthy, complete neighbourhoods.”
Adding another element of difficulty to these types of development processes, according to Richman, is the fact that you can never make everybody happy. No matter what, there will be people with valid concerns who will be upset about the outcome of the development, but it’s the job of mayor and council to be able to look at the big picture and make the best decisions for the community, even if it may be unpopular, said Richman.
And while the full scope of the Harrow Road Project has yet to be presented at a Village of Pemberton council meeting, Richman’s initial thoughts on the project are that it could be a benefit to the community moving forward.
“I think it’s fairly easy to acknowledge, in my mind, the importance of this project,” he said. “I think it’s super vital to the community, I think it’s super vital to providing for many of our community members. It certainly doesn’t solve affordability issues in Pemberton, but it’s a good, solid step in the direction of trying to work towards more affordable options here.”
The next step in the process for the Harrow Road Project is to bring proposed Official Community Plan amendments to mayor and council for review, which is slated to happen sometime this month. If approved, SSCS hopes to break ground and start construction in summer 2023. Housing applications would open in 2024, and occupancy would follow in 2025.
Read more about the project, and follow its progress at sscs.ca/programs/harrowroad.
