identified one of the community’s key deficiencies as a lack of affordable housing development. With that problem in mind, town council has been actively engaged in bringing such a develop- ment to fruition in the near future. In late 2018, they approved a concept plan for a northwest project, tentatively referred to as Taber North. "Whether we deem it affordable housing,or we look at it as something called 'attainable' housing, which is just easier for people to attain


Affordable housing W


BY TREVOR BUSCH insight magazine


ith the Town of Taber placing more and more emphasis on economic development in recent years, indus- try and other stakeholders have


— you've got two incomes and you're still not able to get into a home — we need something that's more attainable for our citizens,”said town plan- ning director Phyllis Monks.“The thing about affordable housing is you can't afford to make affordable housing if you don't have a mix out there.To go through that whole cost of developing the area, you couldn't do it just for affordable hous- ing.You'd have to be able to have that mix to be able to afford to put a little bit more into certain areas,or certain needs." The town currently owns 82 acres of land located in the northwest sector along 50th Street, with 60 acres to the west and 22 acres to the east. Administration engaged


Brown and Associates Planning Group to assist in a visioning workshop with council to determine a con- cept for the area that will facilitate providing afford- able housing options meet- ing the needs of industry and the town. "We just wanted to show them some really interest- ing options or alternatives, and then if we can try to make it a little bit of every- thing for everyone out there,then maybe that does work,”said Monks. “Maybe there's room out there for tiny homes." In late March 2018,


council approved a plan to borrow $2 million to allow for the purchase and development of the 60 acre parcel, which was acquired for $1.2 million with a further $800,000 allocated for site devel-


opment. 30 - insight magazine march 2019


KEY ISSUE FOR TABER "We're going to start on the outline plan right


away,”said Monks.“We've got the lands, of course, the 60 acres that we purchased and then the other lands right across from them on the east side that the town also owns.We're going to start getting that area cleared in the spring and doing some test- ing and evaluating." According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing


Company, housing is considered to be “affordable” when a household spends less that 30 per cent of its pre-tax income on adequate shelter. “We want to keep it reasonable for cost,so maybe


there’s opportunities for industry to get involved,” said Monks.“We keep hearing that they need hous- ing for their employees,they need employees, and so if there’s ways that we can work in partnerships to make this happen, then that’s what we’re going to do.” Strengths of the area have been identified, including proximity to community amenities, the river valley, trails,and employment opportunities, minimal utility setbacks or constraints, and direct access to 50th Street. Right now, the town isn’t sure how development will be handled for the area,but Monks reports the municipality is open to a number of options. "We're honestly actually just starting now. If


there's ways that we can partner with a local devel- oper — it’s not our intention to compete with local development, because that’s not what you should do as a municipality.We want to encourage that economic development, if we could find some development partners, or building partners,who can help us with that they’re the experts in the area.” The area presents opportunities for economic


growth, housing diversity, expanding the trail sys- tem and creating a strong connection with the M.D. of Taber Park and Oldman River. In a rough diagram,some of the features of the


western area included low-density residential (sin- gle-family homes), medium-density residential (semi-detached homes) and higher-density residen- tial (town homes) served by a looping public collec- tor road.


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