The Village of Clinton is seeking grant funding to help build a road and 25-home subdivision on a village lot above Carson Street.
CAO Murray Daly said the village has hired a grant writer to investigate other funding sources for the project after it was unsuccessful in getting a $900,000 COVID-19 infrastructure grant. The project, on the books for the past five years, would help bring more housing to the area, which has few homes to rent or buy right now and little to no available building sites to expand the town, he said.
The land, above the Round-Up Motel, had been designated decades ago for a hospital but that never materialized. Although the village could sell the lot to a developer, Daly said it wants to ensure the land is put to its maximum use, especially with the growing demand for housing in the area.
“The village owns this lot but we can’t do a lot with it right now because it’s inaccessible,” he said. “We wouldn’t want someone subdividing it into two lots rather than providing a town in a bit of a crisis with 25 lots. A good number of people are coming here but the issue is just having that stock.”
The grant funding would go toward building the road as well as servicing the sites with water and sewer. The sites would be the standard single-family residential lot size. Daly said the road, which would extend Cariboo Crescent next to the Round-Up Motel behind Carson Street, is costly to build because it would be built up a 12 per cent grade and require a retaining wall.
Mayor Susan Swan said it makes sense to turn the land into housing, noted that “it’s crazy” in Clinton right now as more people are buying and flipping houses. The site is ready to go but just needs the road to access it, she said.
The move comes as the B.C. government is nearing the completion of a new senior housing facility.
Daly said the new facility could potentially open up 20 homes in the village - if seniors move into the facility - but that depends on whether or not they decide to sell or rent their homes. The housing facility is slated to open this fall.
“Even if we get 10 new homes, it would open up the area,” he said. “It would be nice to see this lot, sitting there doing nothing, be opened up.”