As many of you have noticed on Central Road, our driveway has been constructed and the first access portion to take us down the steep hill to the base has been completed in a very rough form. Surfacing and finishing is required, as well as proper ditching and surface control to minimize run-off. It is very exciting to now have the ability to get a truck down to the property edge when it dries out in the spring.
Things are moving quickly for our board and for the development for affordable housing. We have completed mapping and biological assessments that provide information about all the water courses and significant trees and vegetation areas. Our planning can now proceed to the next stage which involves doing a riparian analysis to assist in the rezoning application.
We will be commissioning an engineering study which will help us define in clear terms the septic carrying capacity of the property. This will help to determine the number of housing units appropriate for this land parcel. Our current best estimate is something in the range of 25-35 units. The engineering study will also provide detailed planning for the fresh water system including filtration and distribution, a rough layout of the roads, parking areas and building locations.
We have decided to proceed in a three phase approach to developing the housing units. The phases are dictated by the layout of the land and that includes 3 main areas where houses can be clustered and not affect the main geographical features, these being the wet areas and drainage systems. The development will proceed with the first stage planned to be the construction of between 10 and 12 units. It has been decided tentatively that approximately 6 of these will be connected somehow as duplex or triplex units. Four would be detached houses. Phases two and three will have separate road access and will be delayed until phase one is completed.
Now that the new clinic has all but reached its fundraising target, ISLA is planning major fundraising to reach a capital project building fund of $250,000.00. The goal is to use these funds for the infrastructure for the first phase of development. The infrastructure and development costs will be recovered by ISLA on a per house recovery fee of approximately $25,000.00. Once the first phase has been completed, work can begin on phase 2, with a replenished Capital Development Fund.
We envision a strata system of organization for home owners. There will be a strata council responsible for most of the day to day activities, services and maintenance. ISLA will own the land and the large infrastructure services which will be maintained on a cost sharing system.
An exciting part of the development has been the completion of a recent survey which has disclosed to us the general size of the families, size of the units including the number of bedrooms people are wishing and information on affordability. We are just completing the collation of the survey results and will publish them shortly.
We encourage anybody interested in living on the ISLA land at 5040 Central Road to come forward. The next year will be an exciting time for us as we will be completing most of the technical studies necessary to accompany our rezoning application. We want to proceed as quickly as we can to get some houses built and people living in them!
Visit our website, www.islacommunitylandtrust.org