The question of whether Nanaimo’s historic Five Acres Farm will have affordable housing constructed on it will be put to the public in an upcoming second round of consultation.
Council met with staff June 19 to review a Park Avenue draft concept plan, which laid out variations of how uses for the property – mainly those concerning the placement of affordable housing – will be accommodated within the land parcel at 933 Park Ave. in Harewood. The draft plan included recommendations derived from the first phase of community engagement last year.
The city bought the land in 2019 for $1.38 million to support affordable housing on 0.8 hectares, as well as community recreation, environmental protection, and food security uses on the remaining 1.2ha. At the time, an agreement was struck to let Nanaimo Foodshare work a portion of the two-hectare farm to grow food. Nanaimo Foodshare is licensed to use a portion of the property as an education centre, community garden and urban farm, which includes operating a farm stand for food and produce sales and farm tours, until Dec. 31, according to staff’s report to council.
The site has historic significance as one of the last remaining five-acre parcels once farmed by Nanaimo’s coal miners, dating back to the 1880s, to provide for their families.
At the June 19 meeting, city staff presented council with the draft plan that included four options, all of which included affordable housing on the site. However, a motion by Coun. Paul Manly to leave the land intact and not include affordable housing on the site leaves the public with a fifth option to mull over.
“I am not opposed to having affordable housing on this property,” Manly said. “I just think it’s a good idea to leave all the options open to the public to be able to look at them and to provide feedback and, ultimately, this will come back to council as a council decision and we’ll decide what is best for this property at that time.”
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Coun. Sheryl Armstrong said she could not support the amendment because of questions over the financing sources and whether money designated to build affordable housing used to purchase the land would have to be paid back to the city’s property acquisition general fund.
Dale Lindsay, general manager of development services, said it was possible the money would have to be reallocated, but he would not be certain until he’d consulted with the city finance department.
“We used money designated to build housing to purchase the land, so we would have to find some way to pay that back because we can’t use those funds otherwise,” Armstrong said. “For me, that was one of the big reasons why I agreed to the purchase, was so that we could get affordable housing or rent-geared-to-income on those lands.”
The motion, directing city staff to add a fifth concept option to leave the property intact, was carried with Armstrong opposed and Coun. Tyler Brown absent.
Staff were also directed to proceed with the second phase of community engagement on the draft concept plan.
chris.bush@nanaimobulletin.com
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