Less density, basements, more green space and buildings that blend better with the surrounding neighbourhood.
Those were some of the main ideas to emerge from a design session that sought public input for an affordable housing development at 70 Arlington Dr. The site has been at the centre of a neighbourhood controversy since Habitat for Humanity proposed a 58-unit townhouse complex earlier this year.
At a public input session Monday evening, about 50 participants used wooden blocks and an aerial map of the property to model their preferred solution for the vacant land.
Another common feature was a swath of green space along the eastern and western edges of the property — an effort to compensate for the size of the neighbouring lots, which were shortened by 10 feet when developed because they back onto green space.
“Everybody should be given back their 10 feet,” said resident Gord Wheaton. “I think the city should honour that.”
Consultant Beth Sanders will host another session Thursday evening. She’ll compile the results into recommendations for the city by mid-May.
Participants at Monday’s event split into random groups of four. Most of the 11 groups ended up with a cul-de-sac or circular configuration with a proposed number of units ranging from 12 to 24.
A number of participants brought in a professional-calibre map of a layout that had been prepared in advance. The result was a cul-de-sac with 10 lots intended to accommodate a combination of single-family and duplex buildings, totalling about 16 units.
That map turned up at about half the tables.
“You’d be foolish to come here without some sort of idea what you wanted,” explained resident Leo Sanelli.
Residents held several meetings and spent many hours devising what they felt was a good compromise, he said.
Affordable housing supporter Doug Shoults went to the meeting armed with a 10-page document that included 38- or 42-unit layouts. However, the people at his table quickly gravitated to the cul-de-sac idea and settled on 24 units, he said.
While he found the mood to be one of co-operation and compromise, Shoults was disappointed people weren’t open to higher densities.
“We’re jumping from one extreme to the other going from 58, which was a very high number, down to 16, which is a very low number,” he said.
Mayor Nolan Crouse noted that even tables that didn’t have the prepared cul-de-sac map wound up taking a similar shape. He was fine with people coming with prepared ideas.
“Let’s face it, people care enough to put some time toward it,” Crouse said. “Let’s look at it as a diverse community bringing ideas forward.”
If the community winds up wanting something in the range of 16 units, it raises questions about how to pay for it, but that issue is beyond the intended scope of the current exercise, which is intended to figure out what can work in that location, he said.
Habitat for Humanity CEO Alfred Nikolai applauded people for attending and giving their input.
“They were scratching their heads and I think that was really neat to see,” he said.
However, he felt the exercise missed the main priority: helping as many families as possible.
“Everybody sat down with their little blocks and did it without any regard to the social network in the community,” Nikolai said.
However, Habitat will work with whatever ideas emerge, he said.
“We will try to do whatever we can but I think we’re missing the bigger picture. How many families could we really help?” he said.
Several residents commented that their concepts would provide a more liveable development than the one Habitat proposed.
As of Tuesday, there were 31 people registered for the second and final design session, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the St. Albert Kinsmen Banquet Centre at 47 Riel Dr.
