A Castlegar city councillor says the burning question in the community is how to rent one of the units in the housing development going up on the former Pioneer Arena site.
“I get asked at least once a day,” councillor Cherryl MacLeod said. “That is seriously the hot button topic lately, how to get to have one of those units.”
Meeri Durand, the city’s development services director, says anyone interested can email her and she will pass along the information, including the intake process, and the eligibility criteria.
She told city council that Lu’ma Developments, the non-profit owner/operator of the 78-unit building, will compile a list and do a mass callout to those who meet the requirements.
She also said that while the operator is an Indigenous-led company, the units are not intended soley for Indigenous residents. “Tenancy is based on income and that opportunity is open to anybody seeking that housing,” she said.
A portion of the units have been set aside for market housing. But Durand said was not sure if eligiblity criteria will be applied to those units as well. BC Housing was unable to respond to a request for further clarification, due to a government policy that prevents Crown corporations from speaking to the media during an election campaign. That rule is in place until at least Nov. 18.
The as-yet nameless project on the Pioneer Arena site at 925 Columbia Avenue was originally conceived of three years ago as a multi-use building incorporating medical offices on the ground floor and 45 housing units on the upper storeys. However, the plans have since changed into two standalone bulidings, with the clinic to be built later.
The arena, built over several stages in the 1950s and ’60s, was demolished last August. Castlegar and area residents are expected to vote in February on replacing it by adding a second sheet of ice to the rec complex.
