Nelson City Council heard new details about an affordable housing proposal for the 800 block of Front Street at its Dec. 6 meeting.
The six-storey building planned for land adjacent to the Nelson and District Community Complex would contain 50 housing units and 5,000 square feet of recreational space on the third floor as an extension of the NDCC.
The information was presented by the consultant M'akola Development Services for Nelson CARES, which is in the final stages of applying the BC Housing for funding for the project.
Hillary Morgan of M'akola said the housing will be "targeted toward low-to-moderate income people working in Nelson."
Fifteen (30 per cent) of the units would be classified as "near market rent," which means between $750 to $1,300 per month depending on household income and on unit size, she said.
Twenty-five units (50 per cent) would be "below-market" rents based on 30 per cent of the renter's income.
Ten units (20 per cent) will be classified as "deeply affordable" and would be reserved for people earning less than $30,000 per year.
The land is owned partly by the City of Nelson and partly by the Regional District of Central Kootenay, which owns the NDCC and an adjacent 0.13-acre undeveloped piece of land on the north side of it.
Unit types in the proposed building would be 14 studios, 32 one-bedrooms, two two-bedrooms, and two three-bedrooms.
There will be 49 parking stalls as well as storage for bikes.
Nelson CARES developed and runs five low-income housing buildings in Nelson: Ward Street Place, Hall Street Place, Cedar Grove Estates, Lakeside Place, and Copper Mountain Court.
The group will submit an application to the city to rezone the land to allow for residential use, then will apply to BC Housing for the funding.
The plans do not include any details about what the recreation space might include. The RDCK is currently hosting an ongoing public consultation meant to determine the future of the recreation campus, which includes the NDCC, Civic Arena, empty Nelson Curling Club and Nelson Soccer Association's indoor field.
