There were workers on site at Habitat for Humanity's Aurora Place property Friday afternoon but no sign of the materials needed to pave the parking lot so construction of the first eight units along Arlington Drive can begin.
When that is finally poured, said Alfred Nikolai, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity, Edmonton, the real work will begin.
"As soon as Standard General is going to be finished [paving the parking lot], we'll know and we'll give everyone an actual date on when the basements will be going in."
Messages left at Standard General were not returned by press time. After it is poured, the pavement needs six days to cure before it can support the machinery that will dig out the basements of the first eight of 30 units planned for construction at Aurora Place. Once that process is complete, volunteers and potential homeowners will start pounding nails, with the goal of "having roofs" on eight units by Christmas, Nikolai said.
"Those homes won't be finished until the spring. In the spring we will finish those eight and start on another 22 homes," he said.
The initial underground work suffered delays due to the wet summer.
"Every construction person in Edmonton and area said there was no way we could do the underground work quicker because of the wet weather," Nikolai said. "We waited and waited. It's going as quickly as it can."
Seven families, all from St. Albert, have already been selected for occupancy and additional information nights have already been scheduled. The most difficult part, Nikolai said, has been saying no to so many people.
"We have way too many families so we have to choose," he said. "We choose the best families. We don't have a waiting list because we don't think it's fair to keep a family in limbo."
Good neighbours
Despite two instances of the Aurora Place sign being vandalized earlier in the year, Nikolai says there have been no problems with nearby homeowners, some of whom strongly objected to city council's decision to allow Habitat to develop the vacant 70 Arlington Dr. property.
"There's been no opposition that I know of," said Nikolai. "I thank the neighbours for their patience, but nobody has said a word."
Just because they aren't saying it doesn't mean some have changed their minds, said Sheena Hughes, who lives in Akinsdale and opposed the project.
"How can it not have an impact on us?" Hughes said. "We're having 150 people with children move in. It's still going to impact us.
"It still shouldn't have been approved. I feel bad for the families that are supposed to move in because [the duplex units] are really small, tight units and they deserve better than that. I haven't seen anything like this before."
Nikolai disputes that assertion, saying Habitat could "build twice as many homes."
"The density is very reasonable and we're really pleased with that. All the sidewalks are in and you can see where the parking will go and see where the duplexes will be."
The only other outstanding matter is fundraising, which Nikolai said will pick up in time.
"The more help we can get, the better. We're a long ways from having the money for all 30, but we're a charity — that's pretty optimistic," he said.
"We will be asking citizens and corporations, big and small, to help us."
