Land use officials on Salt Spring are moving quickly to support a healthcare workforce housing project that organizers said could –– with a little help –– be ready for residents by fall 2025.
The island’s Local Trust Committee (LTC) has asked staff to prioritize a rezoning application from the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation (LMHF) for the former motel being renovated on Bittancourt Road, slated by the foundation since its 2022 purchase to house healthcare workers on Salt Spring.
LMHF board member Julian Clark brought the foundation’s proposal to the LTC’s meeting Thursday, Dec. 12, telling trustees that quick action on the October application was the best way for the LTC to show its support for the project. With construction permits in place and contractor tender processes complete, Clark said, the foundation has secured favourable construction financing –– conditional, he noted, on the property being rezoned from commercial to multi-family.
“And I would call it a downzoning,” said Clark, pointing to the building’s previous use as a motel involving 28 water connections and significant month-to-month turnover, rather than the planned 18 dwellings –– including studios and one- to three-bedroom units. “What we’re trying to do is ensure that we’re supporting the healthcare workers on our island.”
Clark reiterated a message from Lady Minto Hospital site director Erin Price Lindstrom, who recently described “heroic” efforts by local physicians and operational leadership to maintain services, particularly at the hospital’s emergency department. Price Lindstrom has said that Salt Spring’s lack of housing is the biggest deterrent to potential new staff moving here.
“Too often, qualified staff will apply, interview and be accepted,” said Clark, relaying Price Lindstrom’s comments, “only to go elsewhere.”
A civil claim filed in July against the Provincial Rental Housing Corporation (PRHC) and BC Housing –– alleging the former failed to abide by terms of its lease, and the latter “facilitated, encouraged and supported” trespassing at the site of the former Seabreeze Inne –– is settled, according to Clark, after all parties went to meditation in late November. BC Housing confirmed Monday that a settlement had been reached “to the satisfaction of both parties,” but that the terms were confidential.
During the Dec. 12 meeting, Salt Spring’s Capital Regional District director Gary Holman called workforce housing a critical segment of the island’s housing market that’s been poorly addressed –– “because there’s no funding, per se, for worker housing,” he said. “It’s all aimed at affordable housing, so there is a gap.”
Clark told trustees LMHF and its general contractor believe that if the rezoning can be completed by the end of March, the project could be “up and ready for healthcare worker housing” by the fall.
“This is not necessarily intended for the doctors or the nurses, although it might be a good fit,” said Clark. “But when you think about what keeps that hospital running, I ask that you think about the folks that are working in food services, the folks that are working keeping the hospital clean, and the laundry, the technicians –– these are the folks who cannot afford housing on our island.”
“The bottom line is somewhat talking about risk management,” said local trustee Laura Patrick, noting that calculation turned on the likelihood that, once approved, LMHF might “flip” the property into condos instead of dedicated workforce housing.
“I’m pretty confident that’s a very low risk,” she continued. “And I think as an island that’s in such need, I would say ‘all systems go ahead.’ We need to work to meet their needs and take a little risk.”
Salt Spring’s other local trustee Jamie Harris emphatically agreed, noting he had lost his own on-island housing in recent months; indeed, with Harris still “zooming in” from off-island, fellow trustees had to begin the meeting with a resolution waiving the bylaw requiring trustees attend no more than two consecutive LTC meetings remotely.
“To get something [on Salt Spring] comparable to what I had would cost me over three times the rent I was paying,” said Harris, calling the decision to support moving things forward “cut and dried.”
“This has been going on for way too long,” said Harris. “Let’s speed it up.”
The LTC asked staff to draft the relevant bylaw to rezone the property and proceed with public notification requirements, as well as prepare for a public hearing and referral to the Trust’s Executive Committee early in the new year –– a schedule both staff and trustees admitted was ambitious.
“I’m for giving it a good old college try,” said Patrick.
After the meeting, Clark said LMHF was looking forward to the next steps and grateful for the LTC’s quick action.
“LMHF is appreciative that our local Islands Trust trustees are both supportive of the foundation’s affordable workforce housing project,” he said, “and willing to step up to help make it happen.”