Photo by Curtis Galbraith.

By Curtis Galbraith

City Hall

City Hall looking at fee supports/rebates for multi-family housing

May 22, 2024 | 6:00 AM

City council is looking at ideas that it hopes would lead to the development of more multi-family housing in Grande Prairie.

Council passed a motion at its meeting on Tuesday to have administration compile a report on support or rebates when it comes to things like building and development fees.

Deputy Mayor Chris Thiessen says it is a “great idea” for the city to try to find more housing.

“The more houses and spaces we have for people in our community, the more affordable that they’ll become. This is not just about creating affordable housing; this is about creating a market where housing can be affordable for people who are looking to buy and who are looking to rent.”

“This motion that the mayor made is just an inquiry with our administration as to what we can do to spur that along a bit quicker.”

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In making the motion, Mayor Jackie Clayton told council that Grande Prairie is a growing community that has a vacancy rate of less than one per cent.

“So, the faster we can develop it, the better for our whole community, because we know, especially when we’re talking multi family, we’re not talking about a three-to-six-month build, we’re talking a build that could go a year to two years from the get-go,” says Thiessen.

He added, “the sooner we get started on this and get cracking some ground, the more multi-family spaces we can provide.”

Clayton attended the meeting remotely while away on city business. Thiessen chaired the meeting.

Thiessen acknowledges it is possible that by the time something is built, the need may not as big.

“But the city is constantly growing, and we see our growth patterns rising, not just locally but provincially and nationally, so this is, (in part), to address some of that.

“Sometimes, you’ve got to build for what isn’t here yet in planning for the future.”

Thiessen says the hope is something like this will mean developers can see both cost savings and potential profits.

Administration will report back to a city hall standing committee.