After years of back and forth between the George Derby Care Society and the City of Burnaby, the funding for Derby Manor has been approved.
The society has been working on plans for the development next to the George Derby Centre, with 121 supportive housing units for low- and moderate-income seniors, since at least 2012. At that time, the society intended to build market rate rental housing, but it has since worked with the city and B.C. Housing to create an affordable non-profit housing plan instead.
At the July 20 council meeting, council approved the final allocation of a $1.23 million housing grant for the development from the city’s community benefit bonus housing funds.
“It’s very exciting,” Ricky Kwan, George Derby Centre’s executive director, told the NOW. “We’ve been preparing for this project for quite some time.”
Kwan took his position 14 months ago, he said, adding the project has gained momentum since then.
Now that the funding has been approved, the society will be moving ahead with construction planning and tendering a contract to a developer, he said.
Derby Manor, at 7550 Cumberland St., will be home to people 55 and older, who will be able to access meals, housekeeping services and recreational activities on site, according to a city staff report. B.C. Housing is involved in the project via the Community Partnership Initiatives Program and is leasing the land to the society at a nominal rate, the report stated.
The building will go up on the eastern portion of the property, next to the 300-bed George Derby Centre residential care facility, according to the report.
“As council is aware, we passed previously the main concept behind the provision of the amenity bonus for this not-for-profit accommodation that’s going ahead on behalf of the George Derby Society,” Coun. Colleen Jordan, chair of the city’s planning and building committee, said at the council meeting. “This is the final tally of the amounts of money, so it is a little bit higher than was originally brought forward through our committee.”
The initial estimate for the project a year ago was $1.02 million, but off-site servicing costs increased, adding an additional $211,000 to the budget.
Jordan greeted society representatives who were attending the meeting, adding they have been waiting a while to get the project underway.
“They’re very anxious to get their shovels in the ground, I understand,” she said. “So we’re very pleased to have been of assistance with our amenity bonus funds.”
Development in Burnaby city centres has allowed the city to contribute to the project, Mayor Derek Corrigan pointed out.
“These are the funds that we collect from developers who are creating new density in our city, and we designate part of those funds, 20 per cent of those funds, to a housing fund specifically, and that is what provides us with the ability to assist projects like the George Derby project, by utilizing that money to defray any of the expenses that normally might have been incurred during the development process by the city,” he said. “We’re using some of that density we’re creating in our city centres to support not-for-profits that are building housing, in this case for seniors.”
