Okotoks’ proposed Tiny Home Eco Village is getting relocated to an undeveloped parcel of land after citizens expressed opposition over affordable housing being located in the centre of the town.
“I don’t think it’s a tiny home issue, I think it’s an affordable housing issue as a whole, with people viewing that they want that homogeneous aspect to their neighbourhood where they have the same house behind them.”
A petition with more than 200 names on it also expressed concern with the loss of Kinsmen Park as the proposed site for 32 market-value and affordable housing units.
Preparations have begun to research D’Arcy Ranch in northwest Okotoks as the new site for the tiny home development.
“Through an old land annexation agreement, the town was given an additional 10 acres of land, above and beyond what would be used for parks,” Smith said.
“This site has no development around it right now and would be near a mixed-use commercial area, so a higher-density, more appropriate land-use mix.”
Smith said the new proposed site is a better match for the tiny home eco village concept.
“D’Arcy Ranch as a whole has a wonderful diverse mix of housing. We’ve discovered that it’s been extremely popular to move away from the standard single-family model and they’re finding a lot of economic success with townhomes and more density.”
LISTEN: Okotoks environment and sustainability coordinator Dawn Smith joins Danielle Smith to talk about relocating the tiny home eco village
About half of the proposed 32 tiny homes would be sold at market value, for anyone to occupy.
“We have several developments like this in town already that are run through not-for-profits, and the wonderful thing is no one who lives there knows who each other is, whether they’re affordable or not.”