2024-03-06
Developer hopes to convert government-owned Oakhill land into housing
OAKHILL - Jordan Perry, who leads ARC Development Group, a Nova Scotia firm that reached a conditional deal with the province that may lead to affordable housing construction in Lunenburg County, asks for the public's patience as it works on early concepts and designs.
"We're going to do our best to share our ideas as soon as we can," Perry said in a phone interview.
ARC's arrangement involves three hectares of vacant field on Oakhill/Bridgewater boundary. Most of the property, about the size of four soccer fields, is on the Oakhill side in the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg. The site is owned by the province.
Nova Scotia entered into conditional agreements with three developers, including ARC, for proposed affordable housing projects at certain government-owned sites, like the one across from the Impact Church.
"Proposed projects are in the early pre-development and conceptual design stages," the province said in a news release. "Developers must continue to work through the municipal planning process, and projects are subject to local planning requirements, provincial laws and environmental regulations."
At the time of the interview, Perry said ARC was working on six, 10-unit buildings in Colchester County and envisioned something of similar scale, but not identical, for the Lunenburg County property. The idea is something to the effect of "multi-family housing, apartment buildings and with a good portion of it to be affordable and service what's needed in the community with that in mind," Perry said.
"It depends on what Bridgewater and MODL want there, what they can support and what both communities would support."
At the time of the interview, he said it was too early in the process to identify where building footprints would be situated on the site.
"We're currently working through some planning to be able to paint the picture; we have an idea but we're still in process of painting that picture of how long this will take and steps to get there."
The Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing's development and partnerships director, Adrian Mason, said ARC has about 18 months to complete technical reports and other provisions but can get an extension if it's shown progress is being made. If not, there's options to hand over to a new partner if complications arise.
Delivering housing housing projects can be very complex, he said in a phone interview
"It's a slope but a beautiful parcel of land; the location is great," Mason added. "We'd love to see it developed and housing on it."
The province views building on the Aberdeen Road/Highway 325 site as chance to capitalize on reducing the housing supply challenges facing the province by making government-owned land available for development.
