Skip to content

Parksville affordable housing project unveiled

Building will be managed by B.C. Housing with little local cost
9129parksvilleKingsleyManorartist-srendering
An artist’s rendering of a proposed affordable housing project which found full support among Parksville council and could go ahead quickly.

JOHN GRIFFITHSNEWS Contributor

The new $5 million Kingsley Manor apartment block, offering 28 one-bedroom suites for low-income local seniors and people with disabilities at 312 Hirst Avenue, could be under construction as early as this October.

Mayor Marc Lefebvre and his colleagues all expressed support Monday for expediting a development permit now that the 2.5 acre (1 ha.) site has been rezoned, and most construction details and B.C. Housing proposals finalized.

“It looks like a really nice building and it’s much needed in the community,” said the mayor.

Council heard that the non profit Kingsley Low Rental Housing Society has revised its blueprints to address neighbours’ preferences, so that the driveway will now adjoin a neighbouring parking lot rather than residential units.

Tree planting and exterior lighting have also been changed, said building chairman Duane Round, to ensure the building will be an attractive improvement to the city for many years to come.

The building will be managed by B.C. Housing with very little cost to the city or the taxpayer, explained Round. It will replace a vacant, six-unit apartment block that the society operated for the past 50 years, and which will now be demolished.