Two local business owners are hoping to fill a void in the housing market by creating a transitional workers’ accommodation in the Jasper Legion.
The proposal was presented to the Planning and Development Advisory Committee April 24, by Marc Chalifoux and Mark Howe.
“If you look at the 2002 housing study, it illustrated that the kind of housing that’s missing in Jasper is the initial type, where somebody moves to town, there’s cheap accommodation and they find a job and then transition on,” explained Howe. “We’re trying to fill that sort of void.”
The proposal is for 35-45 beds to be offered to newcomers, with a 10-day limit while they look for work, and an additional 30 days after they find work. That additional time is meant to help new workers find a permanent home, without having to scramble for a place to lay their heads during their initial days in town.
For the accommodation, Howe and Chalifoux plan to use the area currently leased by École Desrochers. That space will become available this summer when the school moves into the new Joint School Facility being built on Bonhomme Street.
Currently, the Legion is zoned institutional, and staff accommodation is a permitted discretionary use, but in order for Howe and Chalifoux to move forward with their idea, they need Parks approval for that use.
The advisory committee is required to submit its recommendation—as to whether or not the accommodation should be considered as a discretionary use—to the superintendent of Jasper National Park within seven days of the hearing. The decision is then put in the hands of the superintendent, who has 15 working days to notify the applicant.
“Staff accommodation under the zoning, I think we fit under that very well,” said Howe. “I think it’s a win for the municipality and it’s a win for the businesses and it’s a win for the Legion as well.”
And both the Jasper Adult Learning Centre and the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce agree. The two organizations have put their support behind the concept, recognizing that there is a significant need for housing of all kinds in Jasper, and that there is especially a need for initial housing to keep new workers in town.
“I love the idea that the accommodation is only for workers,” said Ginette Marcoux, executive director of the learning centre. “We see so many people showing up wanting to find jobs in Jasper and if employers don’t have accommodation, they’re at a huge disadvantage—people typically won’t stay in Jasper, if there isn’t a place for them to stay immediately.
“I think there’s an absolute need for this.”
But, as well as support, the proposal has received some opposition.
Parks received a letter from Joe Polisuk, who felt it would be a stretch to consider transitional accommodation as a discretionary use.
“In easily relatable terms,” he wrote, “the difference between permitted and discretionary uses is that permitted uses must be allowed, like retail stores in the C1 district, versus uses that may be allowed, typically based on satisfying some predetermined conditions.
“In the case of the Legion, I would argue that an apartment for a bar manager or even bachelor apartments for Legion members would be compatible, but in no manner was accommodation meant to be the primary use.”
The advisory committee also raised concerns about the model and how the proponents would determine whether or not a tenant is in fact here to find work. There were also questions about how 10 days was selected for the initial stay.
Howe said all those details haven’t been figured out yet, and the hope is Parks will be able to help him and Chalifoux nail them down.
“We’re looking for direction from you because there are gray areas, things that we need to address.
“If this committee recommends to [Supt. Greg Fenton] that it’s five days, we don’t have a problem with that at all.”
This proposal is the result of a call for proposals from the Jasper Legion, which relies on the income it gets from leasing half of the building.
Ken Kuzminski, the legion’s president, attended the PDAC meeting last week in support of Howe and Chalifoux, and even said the Jasper Legion would consider a zoning change in order for the transitional worker’s accommodation to be approved.
“The legion already pays commercial taxes,” he said, noting that it pays about $8,000 a year for half of the building—the area where the kitchen and bar are located. “So if it got rezoned [to commercial] it wouldn’t really make a difference to us. It would actually open up more options for what we could use the space for.”
Nicole Veerman
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