Submitted by Eric Moschopedis on behalf of Planning and Development
It has been a couple of months since Planning and Development has written to the membership, but the membership has been very active in learning about our progress and has made some important decisions in this time.
On December 16th, Lee Provost from Urban Matters attended an open Planning and Development meeting where he presented to the membership a summery of the work completed and made recommendations (slideshow here) as to how Sunnyhill could acheive accessiblity (aging in place), negotiate with City of Calgary regarding our land lease, and rehabilitate our buildings. Urban Matters used five Guiding Principles to inform their recommendations:
Strong membership support for aging-in-place opportunities,
Strong commitment to energy efficiency/sustainability upgrades,
Successful land lease/purchase from the City of Calgary,
Ability to satisfy funding (CMHC) opportunities, and
Impact to operating pro-forma, debt-servicing ability and rents.
Urban Matters considered two different approaches for Sunnyhill. One: building envelope upgrades with some visitablity updates for accessibility, and two: building envelope upgrades with new age-in-place units. In their report, Urban Matters says:
Weighing the benefits and challenges of both options, and recognizing the significant risks of proceeding with any development undertaking, our recommendation is that Option 2 presents as most able to satisfy the membership’s desire for age-in-place options while meeting the same energy efficiency/sustainability options as would be achieved with Option 1. It would also better support a lease extension or purchase from the City of Calgary, the latter of which could help secure a permanent future for Sunnyhill in its established, supported location. Option 2 also has the much better chance of meeting the CMHC’s accessibility requirements and thereby contributing to a competitive funding application because it addresses the accessibility requirement. And lastly, Option 2 provides more options to find partnership capital contributions and operating proforma supports.
At the January 27, 2020 General Meeting, Planning and Development asked the membership to:
approve Urban Matters recommendations and that Planning and Development continue working towards an “environmentally and economically sustainable” “deep green retrofit” as the standard for rehabilitation of our housing stock and the development of evidence-based scenarios for “aging in place” at SHC with an eye towards accessibility as defined by CHMC’s Co-investment Fund until proven unviable or until October 2021.
The motion passed.
At the same meeting we brought forward four other motions. The first was to agree to “a set of principles to guide Sunnyhill’s decision-making related to those members presently living in units that would mostly likely be affected by any decision to redevelop.” The motion passed.
We also asked the membership to approve an “evidence-based succession planning process that may include, but is not limited to, a robust membership engagement process, collecting statistical information, membership surveys, proposed changes, updates or additions to policy, and recommendations for the role, quantification, and definition of participation at SHC.” This motion was prompted by the Asset Management Plan that was created by Urban Matters and Planning and Development. The plan identified succession planning as a medium strategic risk to the services SHC provides and how we provide them. We will be bringing a plan forward to the membership in the next while. Stay tuned.
The last two motions were for small expenditures to study the pilings our buildings are standing on and to do an energy audit. These motions also passed.
Lastly, we want to report that we have been busy and in conversation with Urban Matters and CMHC about next steps. Urban Matters is currently working on a Phase 2 proposal and will be presenting it to the committee in the coming weeks. CMHC has had a turn over in staff, but we moved quickly to establish a new relationship with the new regional program officer. We will report back on all of this as soon as there is information.
Thanks for reading all of this!