The developer behind a South Riel seniors retirement home believes the project will continue to move forward on time despite city council not providing the necessary redistricting it needed.
During Tuesday’s lengthy meeting, council approved some of Averton’s development to be redistricted, namely areas A and B, while leaving area C alone. Area C received a lot of attention because of Averton's plans for high densification, however, by not approving the redistricting, the planned retirement home in that same vicinity has also been impacted.
Averton president Paul Lanni told the Gazette on Wednesday the zoning for the area needs to be updated to better align with the area structural plan, which has already been changed to allow for the supportive housing.
“We have to go through the process to do that,” he said. “The overarching document, if you will, is the structure plan, which does support the supportive housing. We just have to kind of take it one step further to get that district figured out or at least that particular use.”
The company was planning to tackle the retirement home in 24 months, which Lanni believes is still achievable. He said his company is still willing to work with the city and look at the recommendations put forward by administration.
He said in a worst case scenario, Averton could ask the city to look at the retirement home separate from the other developments.
“All the ingredients are there and we’ve all kind of marched in step together to get those and concerns that were raised by administration have been addressed,” he said. “We’ve kind of ended up where administration intended for us to end up as far as infrastructure plans go. I don’t anticipate (there’s) going to be any obstacles to get that seniors plan going.”
Coun. Wes Brodhead, who has been on several seniors boards, said senior housing is something the city is always in need of and is becoming a growing issue.
“There’s always a need for supportive housing that Paul is talking about,” he said. “I’m hopeful that this delay to area C doesn’t adversely impact that particular development. I think we can get it together in time for that to occur.”
As for looking at redistricting the seniors home on its own, Brodhead said he would be open to looking at the idea if it were to come forward.
