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Downtown does not need any more affordable housing



08/26/09

With many economic indicators suggesting the recession is easing, the City may very well be inclined to seriously push its plans again in earnest for the redevelopment of the downtown.

We already see some signs. Construction of Executive Place, downtown Red Deer’s first skyscraper, is topping out.

Last week the former Central Alberta Florists building on 43 St. was demolished to make way for a new eight-storey Skyway Professional Centre.

And soon we may very well see visible signs of the City’s grand plans for the Riverlands now that all of the public works departments have moved to their spanking new facilities on the east side.

The former Arlington Inn site is now up for sale, and we hope the City will be able to land a developer whose vision is in sync with the grand plan for the historic downtown core as brought forward in the updated Greater Downtown Action Plan (GDAP).

In last week’s CitySpeak, Councillor Lorna Watkinson-Zimmer said she would like to see a brew pub, an apartment building or condo project at the now vacant lot.

“It’s the entranceway from the north into our downtown, so I think it would be great to see a nice residential building,” said Watkinson-Zimmer. “But whatever goes there I hope that the builders respect what was there before – that being the Arlington.”

For the past two years we have heard repeatedly the intersection at 49 St. and 51 Ave. will be the gateway to the revitalized downtown core, and it only makes sense to have people-friendly features there, ones that will attract citizens when they move back and forth from the downtown to the Riverlands. This is a concept that was rightly embraced by all City officials.

But what appears to be happening is that the “gateway” to the downtown is turning into a huge billboard for affordable housing.

It is also an area the RCMP has not seen any significant decline in crime despite the City’s attempts and highly publicized intentions for major redevelopment.

On one side of the Arlington Inn site we have the old Buffalo Hotel, a “housing first” affordable housing facility since 2007. The facility is designed for up to 40 individuals living on the streets, many struggling with mental illness and/or addictions.

On the other side of the Arlington is the Rancher’s Valley Inn, which has been sold and is now in the process of being converted into an expanded multi-million dollar four-story affordable housing project for inner city workers who do not earn more than $32,000 a year.

“My preference would have been not to have the building turned into affordable housing,” Watkinson-Zimmer told CitySpeak. “I think ideally I would have liked to see the building turned into medium-priced housing.”

Not to be lost in the discussion is the Safe Harbour Society’s mat and detox programs in the planned Railyards district, and Horizon House, a John Howard Society housing program in the downtown core’s former Park Hotel for up to 25 individuals in transition from a period of incarceration.

For many years the City has wrestled with what should be done to the downtown area to make it more attractive and inviting for its citizens and visitors.

But it also had the always thorny problem of affordable housing to combat, never more problematic during the boom years from 2005 to 2007.

Mayor Morris Flewwelling made it a key priority in launching his Mayor’s Task Force on Ending Homelessness, an initiative that was and still is a driving force to provide affordable housing to thousands in the community who are at risk, including the destitute and the working poor.

The broad strokes of Flewwelling’s initiative deserve the highest praise but what has become highly questionable and worthy of more vigorous debate is whether the historic downtown core, as well as the future Riverlands and Railyards districts, are the right places to implement affordable housing programs.

This debate should begin immediately as the City moves ahead with its grand dream of overhauling the downtown.

If serious compromises are not reached the future of the downtown core may look the same as it has for the past generation – uninviting.

[email protected] 403-309-5455