About time !

All I am saying is that it is about time it takes a help from the government to do this. Where was the NDP for 25 yrs. As this neighbourhood was dying. But Now th community assiocation has to get all the people who live in this community. Not those who have kids going to school. Also all people of all poltical strips.


Pleasant Hill plan takes initial step
Incentives play key role in community revitalization
By David Hutton, The StarPhoenix June 18, 2010 The homes on the corner of Avenue O South and 19th Street West in Pleasant Hill four years ago were, by all accounts, dying.

The dilapidated rental units beside St. Mary School contributed to the image of the neighbourhood as somewhere to be feared by those unfamiliar with it, a perception the community is dead set on changing.

"The housing was not suitable and nobody should have to live the way the homes were," said Pleasant Hill resident Ilsa Arnesen-Kun.

"For something this drastic you had to have that government intervention."

On Thursday, in their place, the first homes in the largest inner-city revitalization project attempted in the province went on the market amid hopes of a turnaround.

"It's going to be a completely different area," Arnesen-Kun said. "People are going to have different thoughts."

The stacked, energy-efficient townhouses, a unique design in Canada, include two buildings, each with 12 two-to-three bedroom units built by River Ridge and Ehrenburg Homes. The hope is low-income families will take advantage of programs to move from rental to home ownership.

"This is like we're harvesting that first tomato," said Keith Hanson, executive director of the Affordable New Home Development Foundation, who spearheaded the townhouse development. "A lot of time and effort has gone in to make the garden grow."

To get to the opening of the first home has not been without risk and heavy costs.

Not including the new St. Mary School, governments will spend $6.3 million in total on the 13-acre Pleasant Hill Village project, including $3.7 million of city money that has been spent to acquire land, then demolish the 33 single-family homes that once made up the distressed neighbourhood off 20th Street.

On the private investment side, a $14-million seniors' housing complex is being readied for 20th Street by the Knights of Columbus and more than $15 million in new housing is planned to be completed by the end of 2012.

Despite the promise of urban renewal, there was little uptake when the city offered to sell the land for $1 to developers willing to build quality homes that could be offered at the low end of the market.

As a result, the city offered to buy back any units that aren't sold at prices now between $190,000 and $240,000, described by some as a lucrative incentive that officials argue was necessary to jump-start the area.

If any of the units don't sell by November, the city must buy them and market them. Twelve of the 24 units have been sold to affordable housing corporations, which will at first rent them out.

"This is a big test," Hanson said. "When you have a whole new project and all sorts of new housing coming in, how do you know (what will happen)? What will people pay?"

The city is faced with the decision of whether to continue its incentive program on the remaining lots in the development and much hinges on how sales of these first units go, said senior planner Alan Wallace.

"We hear there's a lot of demand," Wallace said. "This will test the ability of people to visualize what this is going to be and buy into it."

Many urban renewal projects across North America have fallen back into states of disrepair after such major interventions, but all involved are betting good urban design and quality homes will not only fight off decay but that the renewal effort will spark development elsewhere in Pleasant Hill.

"This is a neighbourhood that's on the move," said Coun. Pat Lorje.

"It's changing and you can see improvement every month."

dhutton@sp.canwest.com

BEFORE AND AFTER

Land use 2006 Upon completion

Single family homes 33 0

Multi-unit homes 0 96

Seniors housing 0 75

Park space 1.76 acres 466 acres

School 3,300 sq metres 4,400 sq metres

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