Pinecrest Housing

Update: At it’s regular meeting on Tuesday, Council chose to tweak the motion related to Pinecrest Housing. Now,  the municipality will waive fees, given that Pinecrest Housing opens up the former agreement to give Prince Edward County first right of refusal should it explore selling the severed lots.

Planning committee approves severances to help secure needed CMHC funding

The former Pinecrest School in Bloomfield stands ready to be transformed into affordable housing units for seniors and a hub for the community, but is awaiting approval for funding to the tune of $12 – $14 million. Since the school was turned over to LoveSong Seniors’ Housing and Community Hub by the County in 2020 for the full purchase price of $375,000, a lot of work has been done to make the building ready for the transformation. All of the interior furnishings have been removed; ceiling tiles, insulation, interior doors and floor coverings have all been recycled or disposed of. Engineering and architectural drawings are all complete, and legal issues have been taken care of. Much of the work has been done by volunteers, and in the cases where there was payment, that money was returned through donations.

The aim of the project is to provide affordable housing to seniors who are at an increased safety risk in their homes, but who can still live independently with varying levels and the right mix of support services. Many seniors in Prince Edward County are unable to find decent, safe and affordable housing options that meet their needs as they age. The building will be renovated to provide fifty housing units, of approximately 400 square feet each.

Fast forward to 2023, and the project holds a new name—Pinecrest Housing. There has been concerns for some time that the original name was too long, too cumbersome, did not speak to the 20-acre project and not readily recognized by people. Pinecrest is instantly recognizable as several generations of children having been educated in the school which existed for over fifty years. Pinecrest Housing has also joined forces with Springdale Developments to help advance additional development plans, and also to help secure much-needed CMHC funding.

At Wednesday’s Planning Committee meeting, Pinecrest Housing was granted approval to sever the property into three parcels. One parcel contains the current school building. One additional lot will be created to the south, and another to the north. The rationale was that having three parcels rather than one would allow the project to access more funds through the Canadian Housing and Mortgage Corporation.

Pinecrest Housing Board Member John Uings noted that CMHC advised the group that if the lot is not severed, Phase One funding will be secured against the entire property, increasing the difficulty of obtaining funding for Phase 2, which would provide 100 units to the south of the school. “They have asked that we have the lot severed so that when they give us funding for the school, it will only be associated with the land on which the school building sits,” he said.

The group was also granted waiving of fees associated with the severance. In recent years, Council created a bylaw that committed the municipality to waive rezoning fees, building fees, development charges and connection fees. Uings told committee that he believed the waiving of severance fees was an oversight. “It would have been entirely within the spirit of that agreement for severance fees to be included, but it simply didn’t occur to anybody,” said Uings.

Councillor Phil St-Jean told his colleagues he was fine with waiving the fees, but wanted to know what would happen if the severed lots were ever sold.

Uings made it clear that Pinecrest Housing has no intention of selling any part of the land.

“Once the severance is complete, we can then move on with that property tax exemption application,” said Uings. “Assuming you agree to that, the bylaw will include the fact that you will have a lien or control over the project, so that if in the future our interest is sold, liabilities and commitments which we have made would pass on to the person.”

With the same worry, Councillor Roy Pennell asked if the severances could have a one-foot reserve along the road line that protects the municipality. That way, the file would have to come back to council in the future.

Manager of Planning Michael Michaud confirmed this was possible. “It will not stop the lands being sold, because they are now going to be individual parcels of property,” said Michaud. “It will prevent any access to that, so council will have the ability, through the one-foot reserve, and lifting of the one-foot reserve, to deny access to those lands.”

Committee also approved a motion that directs staff to review the existing agreement to add a condition that the municipality has the first right of refusal on any sale of land.