How Jasper's chief planner is re-imagining housing in the rocky mountain town
Wildfire rebuild projects could help alleviate Jasper's housing shortage
Beth Sanders bundles up against the cold.
It's –30 C on a Monday morning in February in Jasper, Alta., and the town's new director of urban design and standards is walking through snow in a section of town that was completely destroyed by a wildfire last summer.
Looking at rubble not yet cleared away from one burned lot, she compares the community of Jasper to a fighter after taking a strong punch.
"It knocks the wind out of you. We're wobbly and it'll take some time for us to get our legs underneath ourselves," Sanders said.
One-third of Jasper's structures burned in last July's wildfire. More than 358 buildings were destroyed. The majority of them were homes.
Sanders started her new role the week after the fire roared through. She previously worked in urban planning roles in the public and private sectors in Brandon, Man., Fort McMurray and Edmonton. In Jasper, she was quickly tasked with working alongside Parks Canada to help facilitate rebuild plans.
One topic on her mind is increasing housing density in the rebuild.
Just how to rebuild Jasper — whether it through density or expanding town boundaries — has been a core debate between the municipality, province and Ottawa in the rehabilitation process.
"I want to invite those ever so gentle increases in density at this point in time," she said.
"The community conversation that needs to happen is when would it make sense to have more townhomes or apartment buildings? Where do they make sense?"
Jasper was facing a housing supply crunch before the wildfire.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says Jasper has long experienced a nearly zero per cent housing vacancy rate.
Higher density housing options constructed as part of the town's rebuild could help alleviate future pressure.
"Single detached dwellings everywhere don't provide many housing options for seasonal workers or folks that don't have employment that can pay for that," Sanders said.
To get out of the cold, the conversation with Sanders moves indoors to a meeting room next to her office.
Inside, she stresses that no one rebuilding lost housing will be forced to build something that is higher density than what was there before.
"We can't require a leaseholder to do more than the rules require. So if somebody had a single detached dwelling, and they want to replace it with a single detached dwelling, we've been really clear that's just fine," she said.
Parks Canada and the Municipality of Jasper have jointly put new rebuilding regulations and zoning rules in place post-wildfire to make it easier for people who want to build higher density homes.
"The invitation is: could a person add a secondary suite instead of a single family detached dwelling? Could it be a duplex? That's the kind of scale we've been talking about so far," Sanders said.
"So that's what I see in the short-term."
Expansion challenges
In December, the province asked Parks Canada to expand Jasper's town boundaries so more permanent housing can be built in surrounding areas.
Alberta's Minister of Seniors and Social Services Jason Nixon says the province is ready to provide $112 million to build permanent single-family style housing if land is made available.
"There's significant amount of land around the community you can build in," Nixon told CBC News in a January interview.
"We need Parks Canada and the federal government to have long-term conversations about what the size of the town of Jasper needs to be to address Jasper's other long term housing needs."
But a boundary change can only happen through an act of parliament after consultation.
WATCH | First batch of interim homes set to arrive in Jasper:
The town boundary is set in legislation under the Canada National Parks Act and was established in 2001 following four years of consultation.
A Parks Canada spokesperson said that further consults to determine if land is suitable for residential development could take between two and four years.
Nixon said that timeline is "outrageous."
"I think the House of Commons could respond significantly quicker if they need to," he said previously.
Sanders said even if that did happen, planning an entirely new subdivision would likely take another "couple of years."
"It's not a short-term solution at all. And then to plan and build a subdivision in Jasper you need to look at some geotechnical challenges. There are some limitations because there's a mountain here, there's a highway, there's a pipeline, there's a rail line, there's a river. There are not a lot of options," she said.
A new town plan
In the long-term, Sanders wants to create a new town plan. Jasper's existing Community Sustainability Plan was created by Parks Canada in 2011, outlining the community's vision for a sustainable future. Sanders says the 14-year-old document needs an update when the time is right.
"The community has been traumatized. A third of it is missing. Part of what we need to do is spend time with residents to figure out what we are ready for in terms of having a conversation about a new town plan," Sanders said.
She says some of those conversations will be about housing density.
"What do we want to do as a community to make sure that there are homes for people that need homes in Jasper – and homes that are affordable? We don't know yet how much of that discussion the community is ready for or receptive to. So that's our work in the coming months."
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