Development permits for a housing project will be discussed by Powell River council Thursday.
In a report, city director of planning services Jason Gow is asking council to approve both Development Permit 400 and Development Variance Permit 290 for a proposed three-storey 30-unit residential facility at 5903 Arbutus Avenue.
18 units will have two bedrooms, while the remaining 12 will have three bedrooms.
Run by Tla’amin Nation, the facility would be used to provide affordable housing for Indigenous families, with the project being funded by the Indigenous Housing Fund, a fund that makes affordable rental homes for Indigenous families, elders, individuals, and those who are disabled.
Gow says before they can apply for a building permit, the nation needs approval of both permits, with one of them focused on lowering parking.
“Proposed development will also include two rows of at-grade off-street parking, totalling 36 parking spaces,” said Gow.
“The number of parking spaces required by bylaw is 51 and the applicant has applied to vary this requirement.”
Gow says because the number of proposed spaces is lower than the number needed, the development variance permit would change the number of parking spaces required to get the project running.
He says for the other permit, it would allow the Nation to develop the facility knowing that not all permit guidelines are being met for Development Permit Areas 1 and 4.
Those include having the building’s width set at 70 meters instead of the required 35, and not having the heritage attributes of Townsite in the building design.
The permits will be discussed on Thursday’s council meeting, set for 5:30 p.m.
For the report, click here.
