As the community rebuilds, the Municipality of Jasper is working with land development experts to identify middle housing opportunities.
The Jasper Housing Enablement Initiative (JHEI) is a 16-month collaboration focused on practical, community-fit housing solutions.
The goal of the initiative is to facilitate housing options that fall between (in the middle of) single-detached homes and apartment buildings. The JHEI brings together GIS-based lot analysis, policy review, and practical capacity-building tools to support missing middle housing and infill over time, according to the Municipality of Jasper.
Funded by the Alberta Real Estate Foundation, the JHEI will create a lot identification tool and two standardized infill plan designs, while working to streamline policies and educating property owners about their opportunities.
“These are tools that are going to be used by folks who are rebuilding [as well as] by folks who are not rebuilding,” said Leanne Pelletier, municipal housing manager. “It’s really great that we’re able to bring these things to community members and educate folks.”
Pelletier explained that the initiative is meant to make it easier to explore higher-density options. It’s not meant to pressure homeowners into building a certain way.
“What we want to do is offer people choice,” she said. “We would never tell people what they have to build.”
Darlene Jehn, president and co-founder of Mddl, said her company specializes in middle housing, which includes duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and row houses.
“We saw the opportunity to be able to provide our expertise,” she said.
Housing pressures in Jasper aren’t new
Jasper has historically had a vacancy rate of zero per cent. This housing deficit was exacerbated by the wildfire, which destroyed roughly 820 dwelling units.
While the initiative aims to help property owners consider middle housing when rebuilding, Jehn said it will also address Jasper’s long-term housing shortage.
The online lot identification tool will allow a property owner to enter their address, look up a specific parcel and see what they can develop on their lot. This tool will be available for the community to use after the initiative is over, Jehn said.
The how of infill
Jehn said they will also create two standardized building permit plans for infill development, where housing is built on underused or vacant land within existing neighbourhoods.
“This is just a pilot of two plans,” she said. “The hope would be that this library grows for the municipality, and you’re not just building the same typologies.”
The initiative also includes a review of policies and processes to identify any barriers and opportunities for higher-density housing.
Beth Sanders, Jasper’s Director of Urban Design and Standards, said while Jasper has recently overhauled its land-use policy, mddl has the experience to tackle certain questions, such as whether roof pitch, or eve height rules, make it harder to put a living space above a garage.
“It’s more a fine-tooth comb on that question,” she said.
For property owners looking to learn more about the development process, the Municipality and Mddl will host “middle school” sometime in June. Sanders said this could help, for example, a homeowner who is interested in building a garage suite.
The 16-month collaboration is expected to wrap up in December, although the location tool and designs will likely be available later this spring.
For more information on the Jasper Housing Enablement Initiative visit engagejasper.ca
Peter Shokeir, Local Journalism Initiative // info@thejasperlocal.com
