The Record has learned that the old Gas Works site on 12th Street in New Westminster will be redeveloped as an experimental environmental co-operative housing project.

The project will be a tri-partner development triggered by new federal funding for social housing and the federal government’s commitment to impacting climate change. The province owns the land, and the city will be in charge of co-ordinating all aspects of the project. The city, province and two federal government departments, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, have signed a memorandum of understanding, according to New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Cote.

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“It is an extremely exciting project,” Cote told the Record.

“It combines co-housing with relocatable tiny housing units in an experimental combination,” Cote added.

The project dubbed ‘ecoti’ for environmental/co-operative/tiny housing, has never been tried anywhere else, according to Cote.

The idea had been percolating in city hall for about five years but there was no suitable city-owned site available. When the Gas Works roof collapsed recently, it brought the city and province together again to discuss the site and future possibilities. The site was once considered for a community centre, but costs for remediating the soil were too high to justify the city’s involvement.

Cote said that during the talks about the Gas Works site it was agreed that the building could not be refurbished or saved, and it was at that point that the ‘ecoti’ housing plan was put on the table.

“I have to admit, there were some skeptical folks at the first meeting,” Cote said. Although there have been smaller and similar projects in London, England and Australia, nothing has been built this green or this big with units that are completely removable.

He said the combo housing plan pushes the envelope in several ways.

The development includes 200 portable tiny houses, 60 per cent of which will be built out of shipping containers. The housing units will be placed into a staggered four-storey grid. The infrastructure is seismically sound because it is built out of strong but flexible metal. Plumbing, electrical cables and services are run through giant pvc pipes that can be accessed easily from outside the structure. The pipes will be designed as public art in different shapes and colours. It will also be 70 per cent ‘off the grid’ using geo-thermal and solar energy.

He said it is best viewed as a ‘beehive’ kind of housing, a bit futuristic but with function as its main goal.

The entire structure has large solar panel levels and community gardens built into the grid. The roof is also a ‘living’ eco-system with water recycling features and gardens. There will also be a massive vertical vineyard on the south side of the site.

There is one large area that will include a bike maintenance shop, an organic self-beer making shop, a wine-making room, a ‘suspension’ yoga area and an ‘elders’ wisdom room’. There is also a pocket urban farm which will have a communal chicken coop, and perhaps even some goats for milking – although that will be left up to the residents of ‘ecoti’ to determine.

The city and province will be able to avoid massive remediation of the site because it will be built on top of the soil, and will not disturb the soil. The structure will be anchored by huge piling-like footings driven up to two city blocks vertically into the ground. These will provide seismic stability as well as house state-of-the-art geo-thermal heating systems.

Part of the plan for the development is to ensure complete diversity. There will be cells (the spaces into which the tiny portable houses can be placed) reserved for seniors, young couples, single women with up to two cats, and, of course, subsidized housing for those on income assistance. Cote is also hoping that at least one refugee family will be in the mix.

While the rough architectural drawings have not been released yet, Cote said the development will also pay tribute to the heritage of the site and will use one of the walls of the former Gas Works. The wall will be part of the co-op gardening beehive colony area.

“It will be an amazing development,” Cote said.

As for cost, Cote said, the tiny homes (ranging in size from 150 square feet to 500 square feet) will cost between $99,000 and $199,000 and the financing will be managed by the government directly.

The owner can have their unit removed and moved to another site, if, in the future they need to relocate. Cote said this is ideal for young people who may want to take their container and live off the grid in the Interior, for example. Owners can also replace their unit with a new one if they want. The units can be moved with a large crane, and are built so that they can slide in and out of their cells.

“Imagine an immense Lego-development, but only it is completely sustainable,” he said.

As well, Cote said that there will be significant discounts for owners who do not have gas or diesel vehicles.

“It’s a development where you can pay less for your home and help the environment as well,” Cote added.

Maintenance or share costs would be in addition to the base cost of the unit, and depend on if the owners decide to manage the facility by themselves or hire a property management company.

Cote said city staff are now working on new bylaws and zoning to enable the project to move ahead as quickly as possible.

He hopes to have major construction start in the fall, with completion in one year’s time.

The project is part of the city’s long-term plan to expand housing choices in New Westminster. Last year the city passed a bylaw ensuring that new condo or apartment developments would have a percentage of three-bedroom suites for families.

Cote said the city had been pondering the shipping container/tiny home plan for quite a while and council had visited the Google barges in Portland Maine in 2014. The planning department had looked at a similar idea of mooring barges on the waterfront with shipping container homes on them, but the challenges with servicing the barges and homes made the idea impractical.

No one from the province or federal governments was available to comment by presstime at noon Friday, April 1.