S TANDARD TERRACE
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VOL. 27 NO. 19
www.terracestandard.com
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Build plan tempered By JOSH MASSEY
TERRY HEINRICKS PHOTO
THE SANDE Overpass, top, could one day be joined by a pedestrian one spanning CN’s tracks further west at Munroe Ave.
Overpass idea revived By ANNA KILLEN THE CITY has revived plans for a second overpass over CN’s tracks running through the middle of the city. This time it’s not one for vehicles, but one for pedestrians and is contained in a wide-ranging development plan being proposed by the city for the barren industrial lands stretching west of the Sande Overpass along Keith Ave. to Kenney St. and beyond. The pedestrian overpass location being suggested would be Munroe St., approximately halfway along the nearly 50 acres
on the north side of Keith Ave. which once contained a sawmill complex. Based on plans now being studied by the city, the property that would be devoted to industrial-use only would change to a mixed-use neighbourhood that includes apartments or townhouses, commercial businesses, hotels, cultural institutions and green spaces. At a council session this month, city councillor Lynne Christiansen noted that over the years, the Munroe corridor was used as an unofficial path connecting the south and north sides of the city.
“That was, historically, kind of a natural thruway where most people from the Keith Estates would walk through to the two high schools,” she said. “Even before the overpass, you’d just cut through the mill yard and even after [when you didn’t want to walk all the way around].” She also said she was pleased the proposed new neighbourhood would be termed “Keith Estates.” That’s what that neighbourhood was called in the past, she said, but gradually people began referring to the whole area south of the tracks as simply “the south side”. Responding to questions
about the location of the pedestrian overpass – some councillors envisioned a walkway at Kalum St., east of the Sande Overpass – city director of development services David Block said that Kalum was not part of the area looked at for this particular plan, and that a pedestrian overpass at Munroe does not supersede the potential for a vehicle one at Kalum or to the west of the Sande Overpass. Munroe was a logical location for a pedestrian walkway in the to-be-reinvigorated neighbourhood, explained planner Leighton Ginther of Urban Spaces.
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PLANS FOR a 105-unit apartment complex in the Horseshoe area have been refined by the company planning to build it. Back in January, the city hand-picked Coast to Coast Holdings, a Calgary-based housing developer financed by Quebec investment firm ROI Land Investment, from a list of bidders wanting to purchase the centrally-located 2.4 acre section of land owned by the city at 3304 Kenney St. on the corner of Kenney and Park. Coast to Coast paid $951,000 for the property, in excess of an evaluation ordered by the city. The development was viewed by the city as a solution to Terrace’s dire lack of rental housing both for market-priced housing and more affordable housing for middle income earners as the company agreed to the city’s condition that any development must include at least 20 per cent of its units offered at an affordable rate — 22 out of the 105 total units. Over the course of 2013 and into 2014, the city has grappled with a vacancy rate hovering around zero and soaring housing prices stemming from current and projected large-scale industrial developments in the region. The city has responded by attempting to tie in affordable housing agreements with land it has been selling to developers. Since the sale to Coast to Coast, the city hammered out a special 14-page bylaw, adopted by council this summer, outlining the details of the affordable housing component tied to the sale of city land to the company. On Monday, a development permit was before council to allow Coast to Coast to begin building the first section of what it is now saying is a development that will happen in stages. The company is planning to proceed with the construction of a 24-unit complex divided between two buildings with a total of four apartments rented at affordable rates. “The 105-unit apartment is still planned, however, it will be conditional on supply and demand and market responsiveness,” said Coast to Coast spokesperson Kim Gregoire. “We are lifting one project at a time and we will adjust according to market needs.” Despite the slower approach, the twin 12-room apartment buildings are still considered significant to the community.
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Flying solo
A decade later
Off to Disney
Air cadet gets his wings after years of hard work and studying \COMMUNITY B01
Kalum Ventures celebrates a milestone and its accomplishments \NEWS A14
Skater who started here first to be accepted into big international show \SPORTS A19