ATHABASCA –Town of Athabasca councillors celebrated a trio of “good news” at their April 18 meeting, when development officer Rachel Ramey announced that two new single-family building permits had been issued, as well as a permit for a Dairy Queen.
Councillors voted 7-0 to accept the permit summary as information but spent 10 minutes discussing the housing issues that the town faces.
Both are exciting bits of news for a small town, but there’s something special about hearing that your community is going to be home to a “big-name” company like DQ.
“It’s quite significant for us. There are certain benchmarks when companies like Dairy Queen or Tim Horton’s decide to build, it shows confidence that our area will continue to experience growth,” said mayor Rob Balay in an April 28 interview.
Currently, all that Ramey was able to share about the Dairy Queen was that the permit had been filed, and that the lot is located beside the Tim Horton’s in Cornwall, while the value will be listed in the second-quarter permit presentation.
New houses
“Having two new houses is quite exciting for us,” said Balay. “What we’re hoping is that we can keep this momentum going, possibly through a residential tax incentive, which is something we’re looking at. Overall, just any new development here in town is significant, and is very welcome.”
The two permits represent the first single family homes that will be built since 2018, ending a drought that had stymied councillors. While both permits are in the Wood Heights neighborhood, only one was issued in time for the report, where it was listed as a $400,000 development. The lack of available houses can be a negative factor when it comes to economic development, and it spills over into the short-term rental market as well.
“A broad range of the community is affected. The rental market right now is so tight in Athabasca. Right now for example, the Athabasca Minerals project, if that proceeds that’s 40 full-time jobs that will come with the project. We have to have the ability to provide the infrastructure that will build new homes to support those businesses,” said the mayor.
Right now, the stats on housing aren’t readily available. The town knows that there aren’t many vacant service sites; many of the vacant lots have been spoken for, so to speak, but they haven’t been subdivided or surfaced yet.
Coun. Ida Edwards also wondered about the costs of housing.
“I think there’s some scarcity when it comes to units available for people buying their first homes. There aren’t a lot of town houses, or condos on the market. We need to look at the entry level demographics; we need people coming here to work in the service industry, but where are they going to live?”
