By Tom Mark

ALR Land Needed For Armstrong Growth

Sep 13, 2017 | 5:54 AM

Armstrong Council has heard it needs more land to grow the city.

Mayor Chris Pieper says a report from the planning department shows land is going to have to come out of the ALR.

There are a few pieces of land the city is looking at.

“You know we need to grow as a community. We have all the services along the roads on those properties. It’s just a natural evolution of a community as it grows.”

Pieper says growth projections are around 30 homes a year.

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Twenty-eight new homes have been built so far this year.

The Mayor says the report shows density is already tight.

It’s pegged at 979 residences per square kilometre.

“Now to put it in perspective with other communities, Vernon’s at 417. Enderby’s at 700. Osoyoos is at 600.”

Pieper says the city has done its due diligence, meeting a lot of in-fill policies to make development work.

“We’ve allowed secondary suites in all of our residential zones. We allowed carriage homes to be built in larger lots where you’ve allowed panhandle lots. We’ve allowed single family lots as small as 420 metres.”

Pieper says the land base is small and with a golf course, the fair grounds and a riparian area that can’t be built on.

He says the city will work with one developer who was recently rejected on a request to have land removed from the ALR.

He says there are also a couple of other pieces of property the city is interested in.

The Mayor says a community has to grow if it wants to be sustainable.

He says it can never stay stagnant.

by Tom Mark