JASPER – A church that was destroyed in last year’s wildfire is offering the use of its land for interim housing for at least two years.
The Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre anticipates being able to fit six CorCan units and upward of 10 wellsite trailers on the United Church land – a total of 20 to 30 dwelling units.
“The land is sitting there, and we’re not doing anything with it right now,” said Janice Yeaman, board chair for the Jasper United Church. “It was a no-brainer.”
The United Church and the Jasper Anglican Church, which also burned down, have started conversations about a joint rebuild. The United Church also wants to use some property for seniors housing.
Yeaman emphasized shovels wouldn’t be in the ground for another two years, leaving the land available for interim housing until then. She noted the land was in a prime location close to the downtown area.
“There’s wise people making good decisions with the Jasper recovery team, and we know that they’re going to put it to its best use,” she said. “The church is happy to be able to offer these [lands] and glad that they’re going to be able to be used.”
She was confident the project would not impact their future development plans and clarified this use-of-land offer only pertained to United Church land, not the site belonging to the Anglican Church.
Jasper currently has around 300 interim housing units that have been installed on four parcels of land within the townsite, as well as south of the townsite at Marmot Meadows.
In March, the federal government announced additional funding for Jasper’s recovery, which included money for more interim housing. This second wave of housing units will include around 32 wellsite-style trailer units and 20 prefabricated homes.
Officials have since been looking for more land to place these extra units.
Waiving utility fee
The United Church has also requested that the municipality consider waiving an outstanding water utility bill of $5,586.88, although it made clear that the offer of use of land was not contingent upon this request being granted.
Council previously declined to waive the church’s utility fees prior to the wildfire. Since then, the church has been working on paying down the fees.
“I am particularly impressed by the offer in the fact that it is not contingent [on the waiver], so the land is there, regardless of this other issue,” said Mayor Richard Ireland at a Tuesday (May 27) meeting. “I really appreciate the United Church being so forthright in that this is not a quid pro quo. It’s a wonderful gesture.”
Council will decide on the one-time waiver next week. Ireland expressed support for the waiver, noting that he may have been in favour even without the use-of-land offer.
“The United Church has worked hard to reduce the outstanding water bill by almost half,” Ireland said. “Like everybody else in the community, they have suffered as a result of the fire and the loss of their own property.”
He added how the $5,586.88 was a minor amount, given the size of the municipality’s utility budget.
