ATHABASCA - A local affordable housing project will have to remove a pile of 14-year-old debris, despite an impassioned plea to Town of Athabasca councillors.
During the Oct. 15 council meeting, Lora and Danny Major brought a dual ask to the six councillors sitting around the table — consider implementing a new tax break on affordable housing properties and lift a compliance order to remove debris issued by the peace officer in late September.
“We would say that enforcing this order does not benefit the Town of Athabasca; rather, it’s punitive and a waste of resources,” said Lora in a prepared statement she read in during the presentation.
The grown-over debris is a remnant of the initial construction project residing on a second lot owned by the family.
Lora argued that removing the concrete and asphalt would leave the property looking worse off.
“We’ll have to go in there with heavy equipment. It’s going to leave ruts and a big hole in the ground. It’s going to look bad,” she said. “We believe this complaint was brought forward by a disgruntled tenant who’s trying to use the bylaw officer in town as retaliation for a petty grievance.”
A motion to revoke the compliance order was defeated in a 3-3 tie, with councillors Sara Graling, Rob Balay, and Jon LeMessurier against removing it, and councillors Darlene Reimer, Dave Pacholok, and Edie Yuill in favour. Coun. Ida Edwards was absent.
An additional challenge for the couple is the timing; Aspen Heights is in the process of getting renovations done, and adding in the cost of the removal will stress the projects already tenuous finances.
Lora explained the position she and her husband are in; when the property was built in 2011, the business signed an agreement with the provincial government to keep rents at 10 per cent below market value in return for grant funding. Now, 13 years later, the Majors said problems with the governments surveying mechanisms have left their rates frozen at almost 30 per cent less than the rest of the market.
“Our three-bedrooms are under $900 a month, right? I don’t think you can find that anywhere,” said Danny. “It’s a fantastic deal for our tenants.”
Danny identified what he believes are two main issues with the governments survey: it doesn’t take utility costs into consideration, and it is over-representing larger buildings at the cost of single-home landlords, which are common in small towns. Town CAO Rachel Ramey said the province gets its data from her each year for the survey.
Aspen Heights offers four sizes of units: bachelor suites ($725 a month), as well as one-, two-, and three-bedroom suites, for $772, $842, and $898 a month respectively. Tenants pay for their own power and heating, but water is included in the rent.
Rental statistics are tough to come by in Athabasca, but the provinces survey, which identified 219 rental units in town in 2023, gave average prices of $806, $858, $935, and $998 respectively. As of Oct. 18, the cheapest rental listing Town and Country could find was a two-bedroom basement suite for $1,000 a month with split utilities, and a three-bedroom main floor suit for $1,250, utilities and town bill not included.
The Majors second request, that the town consider a provincial tax break that would save Aspen Heights around $16,000 a year, will be discussed during the council’s budget retreat.
