Kitimat council has advanced a proposed 221-home River Brook Estates development, giving third reading to a series of zoning and official community plan amendments while leaving questions around affordability and neighbourhood impacts unresolved.
The proposal includes 106 apartments or senior housing units, 46 townhomes, seven single-family homes and 72 modular homes. Nathalia Fernandes, Development Manager at Kerkhoff Construction, said the applications need to be considered together because they form a single master-planned community.
“This project involves significant road servicing of site infrastructure that is required upfront. And if we don’t get, all of the applications approved, then we don’t have certainty that they can all be built at some point,” Fernandes told council.
“It just doesn’t make the project viable. I want to also make clear that it doesn’t mean that the all the 221 homes will be built at once, but this will allow us to coordinate and plan the proper, phasing.”
Affordability was a major point of debate. Councillor Martins proposed that the district, staff and developer discuss a housing agreement to ensure a portion of the supply would be affordable and senior-specific housing. The amendment did not pass.
Councillor Feldhoff argued the issue could be addressed later in the development process, while another said there had not been enough commitment to affordable housing.
Residents also raised concerns about traffic, infrastructure, flooding and the impact of construction on existing homeowners.
One resident said, “You’ve got three streets that are going to have 600 extra vehicles going up and down it. There’s only 46 houses between the three streets. That’s just unfeasible to have 300 homes with two vehicles.”
Another resident questioned whether the area had sufficient infrastructure and said there were better locations in Kitimat for development of this scale.
Council also discussed the potential 15-year construction period and its impact on neighbours.
“Construction is a long time to live through,” said councillor Martins while asking whether compensation for affected neighbours had ever been considered. Staff said they were not aware of any previous discussions about compensation.
Despite the concerns, council members supporting the zoning said the project could help address housing needs and that further details could be dealt with as the development progresses.
“This is the first step,” Councillor Feldhoff said. “And I think that everything that I’ve seen and the concerns raised by the public are to a large extent, I think, have been addressed.”
Councillor Feldhoff also said affordability could still be discussed later.
“These are things that can be discussed down the road. I think that’s some important clarity upfront as to whether or not the community supports this type of development. And then the specifics get worked out at later stages.”
Council’s third-reading decision moves River Brook Estates closer to construction, while questions around affordability, infrastructure and neighbourhood impacts remain to be resolved.
