New location selected for Okotoks tiny home eco-village after 'strong feedback' from neighbours

Okotoks, Alta., is exploring a new location for a proposed eco-friendly tiny home village after public outcry.

"The town had done early consultations on the idea of having the tiny home village at Kinsman Park," said Dawn Smith, the environment and sustainability co-ordinator for the town.

"We through early engagement received strong feedback from our residents that that was not the ideal site."

Smith said nearby residents' concerns included a loss of the existing green space, impact to property valuesand traffic issues.

Instead, the town council approved a new portion of town-owned land on D'Arcy Ranch as the preferred site for the project.

The 32-home eco-village is a collaborative project between the town and Vagabond Tiny Homes.

Itwould include affordable housing, regular rental units, short-term vacation rentals intermixed throughout the site, and shared spaces for community members to come together, including a commercial kitchen, dining space, workspaces and storage lockers. There would also be outdoor garden plots, a year-round greenhouse and green spaces for public events.

Fifteen per cent of the homes will be built with wheelchair accessibility in mind, and 15 per cent will be allocated for Indigenous renters.

Public feedback also identified that Okotokians were concerned about "renter quality," prompting the town to negotiate with the Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation to add owned units as well.

"The idea behind the village concept has always been to design the public spaces in a way that benefits both the village residents and the largerOkotoks community," said Smith.

Administration will present the design of the project and cost estimates to council in December, at which time they will decide whether or not to proceed with the project.

If the project goes ahead, the next round of public feedback will be in January 2019.

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With files from Tim Devlin.