Athabasca town councillors showed their support for a new housing project by passing first reading of a rezoning at their Nov. 6 meeting and scheduling a public hearing for next month.
Developer Mike Mallock wants to rezone part of his Woodheights property behind A&W to direct control in order to create what he referred to as “attainable housing.”
“That would be something that is less than the current $350,000 - $450,000 houses,” he said.
The rezoning would allow Mallock to create “low-to-medium density residential development in the form of single family bare land condominium developments,” according to the council package.
The houses are being pre-sold for $180,000. They will be equipped with wiring for solar panels to create a more eco-friendly property.
“You will own the piece of ground that your house is on, you will own your home and the association will maintain and own the grounds,” he explained. “The (direct control) is to control what was left on the site, because it is medium density; we didn’t want people storing their motor homes, motorbikes and snowmobiles there.”
Councillor Colleen Powell said she was in support of this development.
“I am really quite impressed with this. This will go a long way to helping ease some of the affordable housing constraints in town. It looks to be fairly innovative to me.”
After first reading of the rezoning was heard and passed, a public hearing was set for Dec. 4 prior to the Athabasca town council meeting. Town planners believe the rezoning to direct control is the best way to facilitate the new development, according to chief administrative officer Ryan Maier.
