Athabasca town council voted last Tuesday to abandon its affordable housing project.
Councillors expressed concern during their meeting last Tuesday that too much time had passed without any decisions made on the project.
It was during a special council meeting on July 29 that councillors voted 4-3 in favour of spending $3,200 on conceptual drawings and descriptions of the project, specifying that they would make a decision at a later date whether or not to move forward with the project.
“What’s the timeline on this project?” councillor Paula Evans asked last Tuesday.
“If we can’t get some more information on this before mid-January, I don’t know what we should do.”
Councillor Lionel Cherniwchan said the proposed duplex in the Cornwall subdivision — which chief administrative officer Doug Topinka estimated to cost $163,000 per unit, not including the land — lacked enough unique characteristics to make it marketable.
“It’s like having a car without air conditioning, power steering and lots of other options,” Cherniwchan said.
Council voted 5-1 to abandon the project with Evans opposed and councillor George Hawryluk absent from the meeting.
