Some residents upset about the location chosen for a new low income senior's housing project in Chase.

Photo: Village of Chase Facebook page

The Village of Chase held a public information session about an upcoming seniors housing development on Oct. 24.

Approximately 40 people attended the meeting to hear from Oncore Seniors Society, who are working with BC Housing on the project.

Mayor David Lepsoe, Coun. Jane Herman and Coun. Colin Connett were also in attendance.

The project is planned as a four storey building with 37 units provided as a mix of subsidized and market rent housing on property near the hockey arena at 221 Shepherd Rd.

However not everyone is happy about the upcoming development.

“I think it went terrible,” said resident Kim Campbell. “The village should not have given it out because it was donated for recreation purposes only.”

“The fellow who donated the land, his name was Henry Grube and it was guaranteed to be given away for recreational purposes only,” he added.

He also stated he did not like that the village gave the land to B.C. Housing at no cost and said he wants the village to hold a referendum on the matter.

Village of Chase chief administrative officer Joni Heinrich said the meeting went pretty well and it was only a minority of people who were upset about the project.

“Some people said they didn't like the fact that donated land was being given up for this,” She explained. “Actually the land was not donated, the land was actually sold originally by Henry Grube.”

Heinrich said the land was sold to the Thompson North Okanagan Regional District by Grube for approximately $15,000 in the 1980’s.

In response the TNRD gave the land to Chase with a covenant on the land that specified it should be zoned for recreation.

In 2021 the Mayor with approval from the village council went to the TNRD to ask them to take the covenant off the property in order for the project to move forward and the TNRD granted the request.

“Right now there's no covenant,” Heinrich said. “Once that approval is finalized by our council… we adopt the bylaw to change zoning, then the covenant will be replaced on the remaining part of the land.”

Another complaint from Campbell and some other residents is about how the project may impact parking at the arena.

“It's just going to be a real bad parking situation there,” he said. “It's going to be a real cluster.”

Campbell believes the senior’s housing project should have been built somewhere else in town.

“It just doesn't make sense to me that they would want to put it there rather than where all the seniors housing complexes are already,” he said.

Campbell said he believes they should have chosen either Wilson Park or the vacant Chase Primary school as the location for the project.

Joni Heinrich said she was aware Campbell and a few others are displeased with the location but she said of the available sites for the project it was deemed “the least terrible.”

“Land is becoming such a premium everywhere,” she added.

The zoning amendment bylaw necessary for the project to proceed is expected to be on the agenda at one of the village council meetings in November.