Planning & Development Update

Submitted by Eric Moschopedis on behalf of Planning & Development

Hi everyone,

Just an update on how things are going at Planning and Development.

So far this year we have made some significant progress. We have been having weekly meetings with Lee from Boundary Design and Leighton from Urban Matters. 

This month we received two draft documents from Altus. Altus have been contracted by Boundary Design to cost our development and appraise the value of our assets and land. We have been going through these documents carefully with Lee from Boundary Design.

The first of these documents was the land appraisal. The appraisal gives us three figures: The unencumbered land value, the encumbered land value and the as improved value. To break these down, the unencumbered value is how much the land is worth as an undeveloped empty plot, the encumbered value is that same value but encumbered by Sunnyhill’s lease until 2039 and the as improved value is the “as is” value of Sunnyhill as an existing housing development. This document will be crucial in our land purchase negotiations with the City.

The second document was a draft Class C cost estimate for both the new build and the renovation of the existing units. The designs for the new build and the re-cladding are not finalized but this estimate gives us a good idea of what is attainable for Sunnyhill. This estimate when finalized will also be used in our negotiations with the City.

We will be working on finalizing these documents in the coming weeks. Our main priority is the land purchase, everything hinges on this. We have been working on a package to present to the City to get the best deal for us. Once we have an acceptable offer from the City, we will then be able to come up with an affordable budget for our developments.

Boundary design has also been working with Dialog , a company who specialize in sustainable and net zero building designs to make sure that our plans meet the sustainability targets required by our funding partners.

Once things warm up a bit, we will have a geotechnical survey performed possibly including some borehole drilling to assess the site for development.

MODA Presentation - September 3, 2020

Submitted by Eric

Password: Andreaintheoffice

P&D Spend Review

Submitted by David Broadhead



Planning & Development Update- General Meeting August 22, 2020

Submitted by David Broadhead

In 2019 we requested $200,000 to support an evidence based due diligence process to confirm and advance the deep green retro fitting of our exiting townhouses and better understand what work needs to be done to provide accessible, aging in place units.

We contracted Urban Matters to lead us through this process. Urban Matters broke the scope of the work down in to 3 Phases — with each subsequent phase building on the information gathered from the previous — and always with an eye towards becoming shovel ready.

This included in Phase 1

Project initiation – identifying goals, timeline, participants

Engagement with membership

Accessibility analysis of our property as it is

The production of a schematic design concept for our deep energy retrofit by MODA

Identify sustainability opportunities, i.e. green sustainability

Create an asset management plan and identify areas that need on going work and decision making by the membership

And lastly, Provide three primary recommendations: pursue the sustainable deep green retrofit, seek a land purchase agreement from the City of Calgary, and study the possibility of building new accessible, aging in place housing.

These recommendations were approved by the membership in January 2020.

Phase 2 turned our focus to the potential new building, understanding our finances, and continued negotiations with the City.

Phase 2 includes the following Work

Design Work

Project Costing

Stakeholder Engagement 

Site Assessment including Appraisal

Value Engineering

By fall 2020 we will have completed this process. Cost will be within range of our original estimate of $200,0000 with small adjustments in categories. Phase 1 and Phase 2 were funded within the original motion and included a $25,000 preservation Funding Grant from CMHC.

Movements before undertaking work in phase 2, Urban Matters directed us to a new funding opportunity that could offset costs associated with Phase 2 and all future work. The Canadian Federation of Municipalities has created the Green Municipal Fund. This program is designed to complement  CHMC’s funding programs, but requires greater energy efficiency targets to be met. In particular new buildings must be Net Zero ready. The green municipal fund also supports land purchase and provides greater granting levels than CMHC. So you can see why we would have chosen to pursue this funding. It could reduce the overall mortgage amount that SHC needs to borrow.

To accommodate these stricter guidelines and we have had to expand the scope of phase 2 to include a Sustainability Consultant to work alongside MODA - to ensure we are meeting Net Zero Ready targets. And there was an opportunity to further study the exterior accessibility changes that would be necessary for our grounds — in particular the ice build up in the winter and flash flooding in the summer on our pathways.

In May 2020 SHC applied for $116,865 from the Green Municipal Fund to pay for Phase 2, the sustainability consultant, accessibility engineer, and Phase 3. We will be learning the results of this funding by the fall.

If we received this funding it will mean that we have reduced SHC’s contribution to phases 1, 2 and 3 by approximately half. If we don’t get the grant, we still need to undertake this work to continue moving us towards our goal which is preparation for Capital or Development funding.

So, let me break things down like this. To complete the additional tasks in phase 2 that satisfy the Green Municipal Fund, we need

$16,538 for the sustainability consultant

$8269 for the pathway accessibility study

Phase 3 sits within the scope of the original motion, but requires an additional 

$2,000.00 to explore partnership opportunities — This is to cover explorations with potential capital and operating income partners for our project.

and $11,800 for Urban Matters to complete a final recommendation report. The final recommendation report will Present a final redevelopment recommendation that summarizes the most feasible development program and includes next steps related to design, site, planning support, financial analysis and funding opportunities. Include schematic concepts provided by the design consultant. Urban Matters’ goal is to help identify development concepts that are appropriately-sized and financially feasible. 

Although tasks 2 and 3 will be completed in the fall there is new or additional work that needs to be completed in response to the land lease negotiation process, upcoming grant preparation, and ongoing consultation with Urban Matters. 

Negotiations with the City for the purchase of our land are moving slowly and will require additional work from SHC and Urban Matters to reach our goals. Specifically, our lease states that we have the option to purchase the land at Market Value. That is what SHC agreed to 42 years ago. This means the city needs to understand what market value for the land is as its starting position. They have determined it is valued at 20 million dollars. We know, and the City knows, that this is not feasible for SHC. But the city had to come up with this number to dot their “i”s and cross their “t”s.

We now need to work with Affordable Housing to push internally to bring this cost in line with SHC’s capacity. We are all still aiming for book value, which we understand is approximately 5.5 million.

So this new body of work functions as a phase 3.5 with the emphasis of getting us to a full phase 4 process.

The money required for the next bit of work is not tied to any granting program. So it is money that we need to spend as a Co-op. 

The tasks and funding required are as follows:

Land purchase proposal and negotiations $6,300.00

Value Engineering and Financial Refinement $5,500.00 - meaning continuing to work our operating budget and pro forma in relation to proposed costs of the land. (The goal here is to prove to the city definitely what we can afford while still remaining affordable).

In addition to these specific amounts we request approval of up to $10,000.00 for General Consulting fees from now until December 31.

Given that our budget for 2021 will not be approved for sometime we also request approval of up to $10,000 for General Consulting Fees for January through June 2021.

We are distributing a new proposal from Urban Matters explaining this stage of our project in greater detail.

MODA Presentation - August 6, 2020

New Building Update

Submitted by Cindy and Eric

A lot has been happening with P and D over the last few weeks with a bulk of the work happening behind the scenes. This has included work on our pro forma and cost estimates, land lease negotiations, the needs assessment, and geotechnical work. But this post is about the potential new build!

P and D put out a call to the membership to join a New Build Design Group. We got a tremendous response with 22 members joining the group. On July 23, most of us were able to meet with MODA for a 90 minute session. They began by explaining to the group that they were tasked by Urban Matters to look at our entire property to see what opportunities we have for placing new units. As you will see below MODA looked at three options: a series of micro houses dotted throughout the property, a long skinny building next to the escarpment, and where the current one-bedroom units are. Their analysis confirmed what our previous consultant, P and D, and Urban Matters had long suspected—that the most appropriate site is where our current one-bedroom units are located. Please take a look below as MODA outlines the pros and cons for each site.

SITE OPTIONS

NAPKIN SKETCHES

Following this analysis MODA presented 5 different “napkin sketch” models. The designs that they were presented are be best viewed as themes, not final designs. Throughout the meeting members were able to provide feedback and ask questions. Following MODA’s presentation, the New Build Design Group was tasked with some homework. We were asked to email our top 2-3 themes/designs, a pros and cons list for each choice, and any additional feedback to Urban Matters and MODA. With this information MODA will be able to expand 2 or 3 themes. Their updated work will be presented at our next meeting Thursday, August 6th.

Below you can see the 5 themes that MODA presented.

WATCH THE PRESENTATION

Below you can watch a short excerpt from the presentation. It is valuable to hear MODA discuss their thinking and provide context for their design decisions.

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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

Update and Next Steps

Submitted by Eric Moschopedis on behalf of Planning and Development

Planning and Development has been very busy over the past few months laying the foundation for the next steps for the co-op’s work with Urban Matters.

Here is a recap:

• At our April budget meeting the Membership passed a motion that Sunnyhill would formally enter into negotiations with the City of Calgary. We were happy to see this motion pass near unanimously. Within days, the Board signed the letter we prepared for them and we have since heard back from Janet Maccubbin at the City and they are preparing to do an appriasial of the site.

• We have lined up Acacia Engineering to undertake an Energy Audit. A large part of the funding requirements for grants is the increase of our energy efficency. This study will establish a baseline of efficency for our current buildings. Some members will be contacted by Andrea to particpate in the study (if you’d like to volunteer please contact the office).

• We have also lined up an investigation of our wood pilings. This necessary task was identified during the Asset Management Planning work done in the fall of 2019. IRC Building Science Group who has conducted several of our Building Condition Assesments will be doing this work for us in early June. Again, Andrea will be in touch with some units to participate in the study.

• The committee worked hard with Lee Provost from Urban Matters to prepare a Phase 2 and Phase 3 Housing Preservation and Co-investment Feasibility Proposal. There are twelve important tasks that will be undertaken as part of the work. Some of these tasks run concurrently and others need to be completed to move onto the next.

• Here is a summary of task to be completed by the fall:

  • Task 2: Sunnyhill will also be conducting its own land appriasial. This will be important for negotiating a price for the land.

  • Task 3: Will see Urban Matters continue to negotiate with the City of Calgary and their Affordable Housing and Real Estate Development team to prepare a Memorandum of Understanding. This will be a letter that documents the intention of the sale of the land to Sunnyhill (or some other scenario). This letter will need to go to Council to be passed and signed off on. It is only when we have funding in place to undertake the work will a formal purchase of sale agreement be drawn up.

  • Task 4: is designed to continue the external engagement work necessary to bring City Councilors and other stakeholders on board for both the land purchase and development. It is important that we have early buy in from important and major stakeholders in the community as they will be able to provide support should we receive opposition from outside the co-op.

  • Task 5: sees us prepare a financial analysis—a base pro forma and capital budget documents. This study will form the basis for future operational and capital investment decision making and satisfy Canada’s feasibility funding application requirements.

  • Task 6: a relatively easy process that will gather information and prepare a Need & Demand Summary. This document is necessary for any application to the Co-investment program and will outline and identify neighbourhood population characteristics, housing stock, valuation and vacancy rates and conduct a gap analysis to identify populations in need of support amongst the local community. Luckily, the City of Calgary did a similar excercise recently and we will be able to borrow heavily from this data.

  • Task 7: will feel like one of the most important processes we have undertaken in several years. It is here that we will start to envision what our aging-in-place, accessible housing might look like. Urban Matters has again hired MODA—who did the schematic design work for the townhouses—to work with Sunnyhill on this process. At the end of this process we will have design schematic similar to the one produced in the fall.

  • Task 8: has us hire a Cost Consultant to refine the proposed cost of undertaking this work. This updated and further refined budget will provide further evidence for Sunnyhill to use in our decision making processes.

  • Task 9: is a straightforward site assesment. This will include a review of our existing Phase 1 Environmental Assesment and geotechnical evaluation to understand the soil bearing capacity and flow of water through the site. (as side note: the flood zone mapping the City of Calgary uses was updated and our one bedroom mound is no nonger shown as above the flood plain. We suspect that the geotechnical review will confirm the previous granular maps the City published).

  • With Task 10 we will circle back to our operating pro forma and the capital budget and refine it with all existing information. This will allow us to undertake financial “stress tests” where we can learn about the carrying capicty of the co-op and test iterations of unit mix and capital investment.

• Lastly, Planning and Development has been working on a Canadian Federation of Municipalities Green Municiplal Fund for Sustainable Affordable Housing. This grant will be submitted some time this week.

Should you have any questions, please do not hestitate to be in touch. We are always happy to discuss the work we are doing.

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!

Urban Matters Budget Update - January 15, 2020

Project Initiation

Engagement Program

Accessibility Analysis

Sustainability Opportunities

Schematic Design Concept

Recommendations

Asset Management Plan

GST

Urban Matters Budget Update - December 2019

Project Initiation

Engagement Program

Accessibility Analysis

Sustainability Opportunities

Schematic Design Concept

Asset Management Plan

Recommendations

Urban Matters Budget Update

Project Initiation

Engagement Program

Accessibility Analysis

Sustainability Opportunities

Schematic Design Concept

Asset Management Plan

Recommendations

Lease Update

Submitted by Herta and Eric

While all seemed quiet on the surface for Planning and Development, lots of important things were happening in the background thanks to Lee Prevost’s efforts on behalf of our co-op.

Lee met with the City’s Real Estate & Development (REDS) business unit and discussed two options regarding our lease. OPTION 1 focused on re-skinning the building envelope and improving the visitability of some of the units through accessibility improvements (for instance, door hardware, potentially better access to the office, and some limited grounds/landscaping changes). OPTION 2 proposes to proceed with the re-skinning of the building envelope and add an additional 16 fully accessible age-in-place units. These new units would likely go in the area currently occupied by the one-bedroom units.

Lee reported that City likes the two options and are gravitating toward two very different scenarios:

• a 40 year lease extension in support of OPTION 1 - regeneration-only

• a sale at book value in support of OPTION 2 that includes development of new units

In conclusion Urban Matters is leaning towards recommending OPTION 2. While significantly more complex, OPTION 2 addresses one of the membership’s key concern about the ability to age-in-place; is a much stronger narrative at a time when there is a lot of competition for funding; and it also seems like the option most compelling to the City in support of a sale at book value.

Lee will be presenting a full report to the membership mid-December.

October - Urban Matters Budget Update

Project Initiation

Engagement Program

Accessibility Analysis

Sustainability Opportunities

Schematic Design Concept

Asset Management Plan

Recommendations

Asset Management Progress

Submitted by Herta

Our co-op is facing a financial gap between our current revenues and what needs to be done to keep up our buildings through repair and replacement over the foreseeable future. This requires a long term financial plan and commitment that keeps economic housing charges below market prices, while at the same time allowing us to make decisions based on evidence.

For the majority of Sunnyhill’s history planning and upkeep of our buildings and grounds has been carried out through our Buildings and Grounds committees on an annual basis. There is no clear long term plan or policies in place to plan for risk assessment to avoid emergencies, and long term costs of operating and maintenance.

With this in mind, on Oct 25 David Broadhead, Eric Moschopedis, Bob Bott and Phil Cox along with members of the Finance Committee spent 6 hours with Jeff Ku and Christina Hopkins from Urban Systems to develop a draft for an Asset Management Plan for our Co-op. This Asset Management Plan is a first step in understanding the options for improving our long term outlook. Please see the recommended reading post for more information about Asset and Stratregic Risk Planning.

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).

August 2019 - Planning and Development Update

Submitted by Herta and Eric

The last couple of weeks in August has been very busy. Our contract with Urban Matters officially was signed at the end of July, but our first number of tasks weren’t scheduled to begin until mid-August to accommodate for vacation time. But we are up and running in a very substantial manner. See below.

Engagement: Gathering and sharing information
Lee Prevost Housing Development lead for Urban Matters started the process of gathering information and ideas from co-op membership at our annual Birthday Party celebration. He spent ten minutes at the outset providing information on the rehabilitation plans for our building, accessibility analysis, and engagement. Lee explained how Urban Matters will facilitate these processes in order to move us forward in a meaningful, evidence-based manner. He then spent several hours talking to individuals and small groups to determine their hopes, concerns and expectations. One of his questions to members was their preference and expectation for how information could be shared on a regular basis. As expected there were a diversity of views—with members needing a combination of methods, including paper, electronic, public presentation etc. Engagement with the membership will be an ongoing process.

In addition to the internal engagement program that Urban Matters and Planning and Development will be undertaking, there is substantial work to be done with our external stakeholders. These include groups such as the Community Association, Ward Councillor, City of Calgary, CMHC, Curling Club and people in the neighbourhood. It is paramount that we either re-engage with organizations that have been committed to Sunnyhill in the distant and recent past, as well as, build new relationships with the broader community. Urban Matters’ strategy is to engage early and engage often. The logic for this type of engagement is to not only keep stakeholders informed and engaged, but to intercept concerns and hearsay and address them in an honest and generous fashion.

Performing an accessibility analysis
Jerome Lengkeek, an accessibility expert, gathered data from six units this month (two different layouts of our three, two and one bedrooms). Data included not just measurements of rooms inside units but also inspection of common space, landscapes, connection to transportation systems as well as parking availability. This was the first step on determining how and if some of our units can be made accessible through a retrofit process and whether or not we can meet the 20% benchmark set by the National Housing Strategy (NHS) funding requirements. Stan Leyendorst from Inclusive design will be responsible for analyzing the data. How ‘accessibility’ is defined by the NHS is an ongoing question and under discussion by many Co-ops across Canada.

Urban Matters will present the Accessibility Analysis to the membership at the September General Meeting. This will be the start of a very important conversation and a decision making point for SHC. Bring your neighbours!

Initial Design investigations
A preliminary look at our property was undertaken by Modern Office of Design And Architecture (MODA) in August. This company was recommended by both SAIT and University of Calgary Faculty of Environmental Design in previous discussions with the Planning and Development Committee. MODA will prepare a schematic study as the basis for the rehabilitation and sustainability requirements of the NHS. This work is in the early phases and we expect to have much more to report in September.

Project Initiation Meeting
On August 21, Planning and Develompment undertook a Project Initiation meeting with Urban Matters. The purpose of the meeting was to “confirm the project vision and principles of success, roles & responsibilities, scope of work & timelines." At this time Urban Matters would also "collect information including existing proposals, plans, drawings, financial information, and stakeholder engagement summaries." The bulk of this work had already been completed prior to us signing on with Urban Matters, so we didn't get into deep detail on any of this. Instead, the agenda of the meeting was—as indicated in the scoping Proposal-to "review the workplan, identify key stakeholders, background & history, information sources and any additional actions that would support a fulsome feasibility process.” The meeting was very productive. Minutes can be found here.

August 19 & 20 - Accessibility Assessment

Submitted by Eric Moschopedis

Urban Matters will be on site August 19 & 20 to begin our accessibility assessment. They will be working with Jerome Lengkeek from Urban Systems (Urban Matters) and Stan Leyenhorst from Universal Access Design to undertake the analysis. This first bit of work will see Jerome tour three or four, one bedroom units and a one, two and three bedroom unit. Urban Matters will be taking measurements, photographs, and notes. Herta and Andrea will be organizing the tours with members directly, so you may hear from them in the coming weeks.

For a detailed look at this phase, please see below from the Housing Regeneration Scoping Proposal.

TASK 3: ACCESSIBILITY ANALYSIS Urban Matters will perform an accessibility analysis to identify the feasibility of retrofitting a minimum of 20% of existing units to meet the National Housing Strategy accessibility requirements. Reviews will occur in up to 6 units (intent is to review one of each floor plan typology). Actions will include;

• Capture of relevant photos and measurements

• Inspection of common space, landscapes, and connections to municipal transportation system (sidewalks, bus stops) as well as parking (on-street and parking lot if relevant)

• Preparation of a concise report with an assessment of existing conditions as well as recommendations on how to improve accessibility within constraints of existing physical structures. Recommendations will also include potential improvements to the site for both residents and visitors. High level guidance will also be given on key considerations for any future development

Urban Matters wants to meet you!

We have invited Urban Matters to be present at the Co-op Birthday Party on August 24th. This semi-formal session will allow folks from Urban Matters to formally introduce themselves and then they will be around to chat with the membership. This is an excellent opportunity to get some clarification as to the process we are undertaking, gather information and to make comments. Please ensure that you have watched this Planning and Development presentation from June 14th before coming.

July 2019 - Planning and Development Update

Submitted by Herta and Eric on behalf of Planning and Development

We wanted to start by thanking those folks who participated in the June 14th General Meeting. Planning and Development was able to present a comprehensive overview of its activities over the past couple of years. We also put forward motions that will allow SHC to pursue a deep green retrofit as the standard for rehabilitation of our buildings, undertake an evidence-based analysis for aging-in-place, and the allocation of funds to hire Urban Matters as our project manager for a due diligence process. Since receiving near unanimous support from the Membership we are happy to report that the committee has been busy.

On Wednesday July 17 some of the members of the Planning and Development Committee met with Lee Prevost Housing Development lead for Urban Matters to review the Housing Regeneration Scoping Proposal. Lee has a diverse background developing affordable housing both within the public and private sectors and led the City of Calgary’s affordable housing development program for five years. The presentation to the Planning and Development Committee group outlined seven tasks necessary to provide Sunnyhill Co-op with the best recommendations for redevelopment.

These tasks will include:

• Gathering and sharing information with all stakeholders (Co-operative membership, Community Association, Ward Councillor, City of Calgary, CMHC) about what has been done so far

• Performing an accessibility analysis for making 20% of our units accessible

• Preparing a study for addressing the co-operative’s building rehabilitation and sustainability requirements of the National Housing Strategy requirements and how this can be utilized for the deep green retrofit.

• Developing a long-term sustainable capital improvement plan.

• Providing the co-op with a report of the recommendations based on the above tasks. This report will summarize the next steps related to design, site, planning support, financial analysis and funding opportunities.

The Board has signed the contract with Urban Matters for the first phase of this project. The plan at this point is it to utilize the Planning and Development budget and the CMHC Preservation Fund grant to pay for this first phase. We will be working hard to look for funding for subsequent phases. We will keep you posted.