It goes without saying that the number one issue facing Jasper is housing.
Whether it’s finding a place for a seasonal employee, helping a senior find a smaller home or to ensure a young family can afford to live in Jasper, housing affects us all.
Yet it seems Parks Canada, which controls land use planning and development, could care less.
This week the Jasper Community Housing Corporation (JCHC) announced it was no longer considering a housing development at the 800 block of Turret Street, which is owned by Parks Canada to house its staff.
The reason given was because the project was no longer a priority for Parks Canada.
By dropping it from its list of priorities the JCHC had little choice but to go back to the drawing board to consider other parcels of land in the community that could be developed.
As a result, Parks Canada has essentially set back the entire process by more than a year, hurting just about everyone in the process.
This follows the federal agency’s recent decision to unilaterally install a work camp outside of the townsite to house its staff this summer, drawing the ire of business owners.
The temporary trailers are expected to provide accommodation for 36 staff, a little more than the proposed redevelopment of the 800 block of Turret Street, which had a maximum build out of 27 units.
Fortunately the JCHC has persevered and remains focused on the task at had – building housing.
The new proposals include three parcels of land, two of which could get started almost immediately given that they are currently vacant lots. The third parcel of land, the RCMP detachment, might still be a few years away but at least it’s in the pipeline.
The JCHC has also recognized that there is plenty of room for infill housing, whether its replacing a parking lot with a new housing development or adding a second-floor apartment in the downtown core.
This solution, as the JCHC report states, could be the quickest way to alleviate the town’s housing crunch.
On top of this the JCHC has also put forward a proposal to try and harness the free market.
The problem with this approach is that Parks Canada must release the parcel of land before a private developer would come forward, making it uncertain it will ever come to fruition.
While it appears the JCHC is back on track and is making progress all of this could have been resolved a lot quicker had Parks Canada gotten out of the way.
