It will be bigger than its predecessor.
It will appeal to young families; it will be a rental facility featuring two- and three-bedroom units, and it will be a place that will feature the first car-share opportunity in Greater Vernon.
Council approved Winnipeg’s Ironclad Developments Inc.’s development variance permit application to construct a four-and-a-half storey, 43-unit apartment building on Mission Hill at 1803-31A Street, a block from Vernon Jubilee Hospital.
“Our proposal acknowledges the need to develop communities that encourage alternative modes of transportation,” said Pascal Toupin-Selinger, design and development manager for Ironclad Developments.
“The inclusion of a car share program, the availability of secure, lockable bicycle parking for all units and reduction of parking made available reinforces that vision of sustainability.
“The compact nature of the neighbourhood and proximity to amenities make it easy for future residents to ditch the car in favour of walking, bicycling and using public transit.”
A prior 30-unit apartment on the same location burned in March 2010, displacing all of the tenants.
A cause of the fire has never been determined.
Ironclad has teamed up with Kelowna-based OGO Car Share Co-op to provide one car share on the Mission Hill property and one in the community within a couple blocks of the development, quite possibly at VJH.
Ironclad will pay and supply a car share membership for every two- and three-bedroom unit.
“We are trying to mitigate, if not eliminate, the need for a unit to have a second vehicle,” said Toupin-Selinger. “Both of these car shares will be widely available to the entire community; they’re not exclusive to our development.”
According to OGO’s web page, “OGO promotes carsharing as an economically beneficial and environmentally responsible transportation option to private car ownership. It fosters community based transportation decision making, which recognize the environmental, economic, and social integrity of our neighbourhoods.”
Council heard during a public hearing on the application concerns over parking surrounding the proposal which is calling for 54 spaces, reduced from 74, the result of a parking study commissioned by Ironclad.
The original building held 24 parking spaces for 30 units.
Helen Third owns a four-plex and six-plex directly across from the proposed site, which have been in her family since 1954. Third said she’s concerned for her tenants and remembers the experience of the 2010 fire.
“Trying to get the tenants and vehicles out of that property, they had to fight the fire trucks that blocked off our property so they could get to the end of the building (on fire),” said Third. “The fear was it would collapse onto my building. There has to be more space for parking.”
Lorne Rosnau, co-owner of a 32-unit condominium complex near the proposal, said his facility is constantly used by non-tenants for parking.
“It’s a very busy area for parking with VJH there,” said Rosnau. “A lot of people are looking for parking and they look at our facility.”
Coun. Scott Anderson agreed.
“I don’t see any problem (with the proposal) other than parking,” said Anderson. “This area is jammed with cars and I don’t see that changing.”
Coun. Juliette Cunningham couldn’t say no to the application because “there are so many positives.”
Coun. Catherine Lord said it’s not right to penalize an apartment providing sufficient space for tenants by saying parking on the streets is causing a problem.
“If that’s the problem, perhaps we should look at the hospital and talk with VJH about providing more parking,” said Lord. “These are two different issues and we need to keep them separate.”
Mayor Akbal Mund said he doesn’t see parking being an issue there.
“The old unit had 24 spaces for 30 units. This has increased quite a bit from the old building.
Anderson and Coun. Bob Spiers opposed the development variance permit application.
Ironclad is also building a 60-unit facility on Centennial Drive, approved by Vernon council last summer.
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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