Photo: Google Maps

At one time, the City of Vernon had a vision for attainable housing on 69 acres of city-owned land in Okanagan Landing.

But 19 acres from the Hesperia lands off Okanagan Avenue are about to be subdivided and put up for sale.

“We will try to sell it off, rezone it and a developer will come in and develop it,” said Mayor Akbal Mund.

Coun. Brian Quiring said there could be a wide range of housing types put on the land "just like we all want to see."

"It's a great, great asset for the city to liquidate," Quiring said.

The land was purchased years ago by the city with a plan to encourage the building of attainable housing on the site.

Plans for the property included up to one thousand residential units mixed with commercial space.

However, a land corporation that was created in 2007 to prepare the land was disbanded six years later by a different council.

Mund rejected the idea that the vision of attainable housing is now gone.

“The vision has not changed,” Mund insisted. “What we said in council today was the money from the sale of that land would be kept to go to buy land and then work with BC Housing (to develop housing closer to the city centre).”

“The money is still there to use for affordable housing,” Mund said.

Meanwhile, Quiring believes the land will still be used for attainable housing rather than more luxurious homes with a view of Okanagan Lake.

"It's a planned community," reassured Quiring. "It's more along the lines of affordable housing. There might be some tweaks to it but the concept stays the same."

The mayor said there was concern from some quarters that Vernon did not have enough housing.

He said five projects were in the pipeline currently, with BX Crossing expected to open this summer.

“We get a lot of people here saying there is no housing in Vernon. We're waiting for some, we have five other projects that are coming on board.”

Mund said the other 50 acres of Hesperia land would likely be dealt with by a new council.