Planning and Development Committee - End of June Update

Submitted by Phil Cox on behalf of Planning & Development

We remain in a holding pattern on lease negotiations with the City. Our new key contact there has been talking with colleagues in the Calgary Real Estate and Development Services (REDS) to arrive on a lease calculation for Sunnyhill. Our consultant, Lee, is monitoring developments and keeping our City Councillor Druh Farrell appraised. At some point, it may make sense for Sunnyhill to send a letter to senior administration seeking to understand the hold-up. Now, with the Municipal election looming closer, new limits are to be imposed on communications and decision-making at City Hall that will last until the October vote.

The lease calculation is critical to the whole package. Without it we cannot know the financial viability of the project. It is the missing piece of information that, once in place, will allow us to see clearly our options for retrofitting the two and three-bedroom units and for replacing four of our one-bedroom units with a new build. We have been told that neither CMHC nor FCM will entertain a proposal until we have the lease arrangement worked out with the City.

At this week’s P&D session with our consultant, Lee, members discussed and approved a “work-around” idea. We agreed to calculate the highest lease rate that we could possibly pay the City to stay on the right side of the debt-to-service ratio limit for Sunnyhill. With this “placeholder” number, we are able to complete the pro-forma and other remaining details, proceed with member approval discussions and then be ready to make adjustments once a final lease rate is put forward by the City.

Watch this space for updates on this situation. There was talk of having our membership meeting and vote on the project before the end of June. This is now be postponed until later in the Summer.

In the meantime, you may wish to review the housing project package in its current state. Click here to view the slides that Lee presented in our April 15th General Meeting.

Over the last three years, we have learned that housing cooperatives are not as well understood in Calgary as they are in Canada’s larger cities where they are more prolific. As it happens, Sunnyhill is the only housing coop in Calgary sitting on leased land. This lack of understanding may be a factor contributing to our halting process with the City. By contrast, Vancouver has had a framework in place since 2017 to guide negotiations for end-of-lease situations. In that city there are over 200 sites where City land is on lease to coop or affordable housing projects. This is not to say that everything is rosy for housing coops dealing with Vancouver City Hall. There are issues there too. To catch a glimpse of how housing cooperatives are recognized and dealt with in the City of Vancouver, click here.

Seeking Members for New Build Design Group

The time has come for the membership to talk with MODA architects as they develop their design concepts for the new building. During the next two months or so, MODA will be available for two short 15-30 minute meetings each week to give updates. They want feedback from a diverse selection of the membership. Particularly members who can express their personal thoughts in balance with the needs of the coop.

P and D is asking interested members to fill out the short survey below so that we can invite the most diverse panel to participate regularly in these briefings and feedback sessions. The meetings will also be open to the general membership, but we want to ensure good representation across the co-op, throughout the process.

Introduction to MODA

Password: Andrea

On June 18, 2020 MODA provided an introduction to the memberships about how they work and the process they will lead the membership through as we work to design a new building.

Modern Office of Design + Architecture (MODA) is the Calgary-based architecture and interior design firm that Urban Matters is working with to envision what our aging-in-place, accessible housing might look like. MODA is the same firm that did the design work for our 2 and 3 bedroom in the fall. They offer a collaborative, team-oriented approach to all projects, big or small. MODA’s work ranges from single family residences to institutional projects such as libraries, schools, art galleries and fire halls to multifamily and mid-scale office, retail and commercial buildings.

If you have questions, please submit the here:

Ask a Question

Presentation: An Introduction to MODA

Submitted by Eric on behalf of Planning and Development

Planning and Development is inviting members to:

AN INTRODUCTION TO MODA

June 18th, 7:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Zoom (link: https://bit.ly/2AeyZVJ)

Modern Office of Design + Architecture (MODA) is the Calgary-based architecture and interior design firm that Urban Matters is working with to envision what our aging-in-place, accessible housing might look like. MODA is the same firm that did the design work for our 2 and 3 bedroom in the fall. They offer a collaborative, team-oriented approach to all projects, big or small. MODA’s work ranges from single family residences to institutional projects such as libraries, schools, art galleries and fire halls to multifamily and mid-scale office, retail and commercial buildings.

MODA will provide an introduction to the memberships about how they work and the process they will lead the membership through as we work to design a new building. 

MODA website: http://moda.ca/ 

Email if you need the phone number to join the meeting.
Sunnyhill.planning.development@gmail.com 

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

P and D

Planning and Development Update - March 2020

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!

One Bedroom Engagement

Submitted by Herta

The members from the four one bedroom units met with the P&D Committee to discuss their concerns and options available should they have to move out of their homes while construction is undertaken. The discussion was informative for all concerned and resulted in a draft proposal to be brought forward to the Board and the membership. Meanwhile every effort is being made to keep the four one bedroom members informed on every step that is being considered concerning the Retrofit as it impacts them.

September 2019 - Planning and Development Update

Submitted by Herta and Eric

Onward and Upward

The Planning and Development Committee has had a month of meetings which have resulted in making strides toward the rehabilitation of our buildings and addressing aging in place.

On Sept 16 the Co-op was provided with CMHC’s approval letter for the Preservation Funding program. Funding is for a maximum amount of $25,000.00. The Board signed the agreement and it was submitted October 1st, 2019.

The Planning and Development Committee met with Jeff Ku and Christina Hopkins from Urban Systems on Sept 23 (see minutes here). Asset Management is an important application to plan for the future of our co-op needs. Urban Systems will be teaching our co-op how to plan for future decision making concerning what gets repaired / replaced, and when and long term financial planning to accommodate our future needs. Up to this time there has no clear directive or culture of long term planning at SHC. For the most part Buildings and Grounds Committees have done the bulk of this work. Planning and Development has provided Urban Systems with a number of important documents (annual budget, current financial statements, 60 year analysis, 2018 Building Condition Assessment, etc.). Urban System’s will spend the next few weeks building out a strong working draft of an Asset Management Program and will present it to the Planning and Development Committee on October 25th.

Urban Systems has also provided us with some important information that we encourage each member to read through. Although “Building Community Resilience Through Asset Management: A HANDBOOK & TOOLKIT FOR ALBERTA MUNICIPALITIES” is designed for cities, the principals will apply to SHC’s future planning.

A meeting with Urban Matters, CMHC and Planning and Development Committee members was held to discuss the issue of accessibility in our units. While no clear decision was made Bob Bott reported that there seem to be some interest in CHMC being flexible about the 20% accessibility rule for funding.

A meeting was also held on Sept 26 with MODA to discuss the first draft of the schematic design. The result of the Accessibility study and a draft of the design for our units was presented at the General Meeting on Sept 27 (see presentation here).

June 14, 2019 - Planning and Development Presentation

Submitted by Eric Moschopedis

Hello friends,

This is a video of the Planning and Development presentation that was given to the membership at the June 14th General Meeting. The video runs for about an hour and provides a strong overview, updates, and next steps regarding the lease negotiations with the City, the rehabilitation of our buildings, aging in place, and financing. It is important that those who did not attend the meeting take the time to familiarize themselves with the information as it will be the foundation for future discussions.

You will need to use this password to access the video: Andreaintheoffice