A development dubbed Tantalus Village passed second reading by council and will soon have a public hearing.
By a vote of 6-1 on March 19, a mixed-use development from Target Homes at 40480 Tantalus Rd. passed second reading, though several council members said they maintained some hesitation.
Coun. Lauren Greenlaw was the sole council member opposed. With the approval, the project will be scheduled for a public hearing on April 9, after which the council may debate the third and final reading.
“This project has evolved over time. I think it’s evolved in the right direction,” Mayor Armand Hurford said.
The project consists of three buildings, all six storeys in height. Previous reporting from The Squamish Chief noted the project aims for about 307 residential units across the buildings.
A District staff report from Feb. 20 says about 77.5% of the project is residential, 20% is commercial, and 2.5% is commercial child care.
Hesitations
A few council members mentioned the amount and type of commercial space as an area that could be improved.
“Not securing the child care space for a non-profit operator means that we're not necessarily guaranteed that we're going to have accessible child care spaces for anybody,” said Coun. Jenna Stoner. “I think that there's still concerns around the employment space and the viability of it and if it's actually delivering the type of employment space that we need.”
Hurford said ensuring appropriate employment space should be top of mind of council for all projects, so residents can find work that enables them to afford housing in Squamish.
Overall, the project met the current community amenity contribution policy with about $1 million cash in lieu, plus donating 6% of the floor area to the Squamish Community Housing Society. Additional contributions include land for a park and corridor trail connection on the west side, money for public art, a no-gas covenant, 20% of units being three bedrooms, and 58% of units being market rental.
Adding a traffic signal to the Garibaldi Way and Tantalus Road intersection before occupancy has also been agreed upon by Target Homes. Coun. Andrew Hamilton noted he was in favour of projects being held “directly accountable” to traffic or development impacts.
Community growth
In her opposition, Coun. Lauren Greenlaw said it is difficult to support more housing developments while the community outgrows its infrastructure, including the number of doctors and child care teachers. She made a plea to the province to provide financial support to help the growing community.
“As the province strongly encourages densification and population growth, our community needs the province to provide us with more financial support for the cost of the fall under provincial jurisdiction, such as retaining educators and doctors, affordable housing, day care, and health care. A community needs more than just roofs over their heads to be livable,” she said.
“Particularly pertinent to the projects that we have discussed tonight is the absence of regional transit that we have been requesting from the province for at least 10 years now. … So this is me explicitly asking the province for the regional transit that is in our community members and the environment’s best interests and as yet, for seemingly no good reason, still noticeably absent.”
