In January, Lifestyle Homes held an open house where people had the opportunity to voice their questions or concerns about the proposed Adult Living Centre in the Kinniburgh community. In response, another one was held on March 26th, with revised action plans, as well as direct responses to concerns expressed at the last open house.
The Centre, just north of Kinniburgh, will consist of 75 homes either being semi-detached or single units with rear-attached garages. With two building concepts, people have the choice to choose homes inspired by classic Craftsman and Coastal architecture, as well as the inclusion of optional developed lofts.
The revised project layout includes increased landscaping developments, such as trees native to the area, green spaces, functional walkways, and improved driving paths.
At the last open house, community members voiced their concerns about a couple different things. One was about the lighting along East Chestermere Drive. Lifestyle Homes answered that although the overall lighting on the drive is up to the discretion of the Town of Chestermere, the Adult Living Centre community would enforce ‘dark sky friendly’ light fixtures, which allow for objects to be illuminated around the lamp post, but would not direct any light up into the sky.
Another concern was the overall location of the project site, which is nearby to the East Lake School. One of the posters at the open house directly responded to this issue with the desire to bridge the gap between the generations, and to cut back on social isolation so that the young and the elderly can learn from one another.
“The next step is to take further concerns, analyze these concerns, make any changes if necessary, submit the final plan to the developer, and then present it to council,” says MMM Group Project Manager Angie Lucas, “the council has the last say on whether we go on from this point. It’s a tricky piece of land, but at least the developer now knows there is a market for it in Chestermere.”
There has been controversy about the placement of the Adult Living Centre as there was previous belief that the area was supposed to be made into a park. Although people asked why there couldn’t be a smaller public park space within the project, the belief is that the featured common park spaces in the project are viewed as extensions of each home’s front yard, and that they are for private use on the private property.
“I think it’s safe to say that those that attended came away understanding how genuine we are in addressing the concerns of the adjacent residents,” says General Manager Ryan Armstrong, “the fact that the parcel is a private property remains an underlying frustration for residents that thought it was public, but pretty much everyone spoke very highly of the team’s efforts and of the vision we have for the community nevertheless.”
Lifestyle Homes is contributing to the capital cost of the East Lake playground through the Friends of Chestermere East Lake School Society; therefore children will have a park to play on nearby even without the project site being converted into one.
“What a fantastic evening. We were expecting a modest turnout Wednesday evening with the weather being as poor as it was, but the crowd was even bigger than at the first event,” beams Armstrong, “It’s great to see just how much interest there really is in what we’re trying to accomplish.” If you have any further questions about the project, you can contact Ryan Armstrong at (403) 215-0500, or email him at ryana@lifestylehomes.ca.
