Submitted by David Broadhead
In 2019 we requested $200,000 to support an evidence based due diligence process to confirm and advance the deep green retro fitting of our exiting townhouses and better understand what work needs to be done to provide accessible, aging in place units.
We contracted Urban Matters to lead us through this process. Urban Matters broke the scope of the work down in to 3 Phases — with each subsequent phase building on the information gathered from the previous — and always with an eye towards becoming shovel ready.
This included in Phase 1
Project initiation – identifying goals, timeline, participants
Engagement with membership
Accessibility analysis of our property as it is
The production of a schematic design concept for our deep energy retrofit by MODA
Identify sustainability opportunities, i.e. green sustainability
Create an asset management plan and identify areas that need on going work and decision making by the membership
And lastly, Provide three primary recommendations: pursue the sustainable deep green retrofit, seek a land purchase agreement from the City of Calgary, and study the possibility of building new accessible, aging in place housing.
These recommendations were approved by the membership in January 2020.
Phase 2 turned our focus to the potential new building, understanding our finances, and continued negotiations with the City.
Phase 2 includes the following Work
Design Work
Project Costing
Stakeholder Engagement
Site Assessment including Appraisal
Value Engineering
By fall 2020 we will have completed this process. Cost will be within range of our original estimate of $200,0000 with small adjustments in categories. Phase 1 and Phase 2 were funded within the original motion and included a $25,000 preservation Funding Grant from CMHC.
Movements before undertaking work in phase 2, Urban Matters directed us to a new funding opportunity that could offset costs associated with Phase 2 and all future work. The Canadian Federation of Municipalities has created the Green Municipal Fund. This program is designed to complement CHMC’s funding programs, but requires greater energy efficiency targets to be met. In particular new buildings must be Net Zero ready. The green municipal fund also supports land purchase and provides greater granting levels than CMHC. So you can see why we would have chosen to pursue this funding. It could reduce the overall mortgage amount that SHC needs to borrow.
To accommodate these stricter guidelines and we have had to expand the scope of phase 2 to include a Sustainability Consultant to work alongside MODA - to ensure we are meeting Net Zero Ready targets. And there was an opportunity to further study the exterior accessibility changes that would be necessary for our grounds — in particular the ice build up in the winter and flash flooding in the summer on our pathways.
In May 2020 SHC applied for $116,865 from the Green Municipal Fund to pay for Phase 2, the sustainability consultant, accessibility engineer, and Phase 3. We will be learning the results of this funding by the fall.
If we received this funding it will mean that we have reduced SHC’s contribution to phases 1, 2 and 3 by approximately half. If we don’t get the grant, we still need to undertake this work to continue moving us towards our goal which is preparation for Capital or Development funding.
So, let me break things down like this. To complete the additional tasks in phase 2 that satisfy the Green Municipal Fund, we need
$16,538 for the sustainability consultant
$8269 for the pathway accessibility study
Phase 3 sits within the scope of the original motion, but requires an additional
$2,000.00 to explore partnership opportunities — This is to cover explorations with potential capital and operating income partners for our project.
and $11,800 for Urban Matters to complete a final recommendation report. The final recommendation report will Present a final redevelopment recommendation that summarizes the most feasible development program and includes next steps related to design, site, planning support, financial analysis and funding opportunities. Include schematic concepts provided by the design consultant. Urban Matters’ goal is to help identify development concepts that are appropriately-sized and financially feasible.
Although tasks 2 and 3 will be completed in the fall there is new or additional work that needs to be completed in response to the land lease negotiation process, upcoming grant preparation, and ongoing consultation with Urban Matters.
Negotiations with the City for the purchase of our land are moving slowly and will require additional work from SHC and Urban Matters to reach our goals. Specifically, our lease states that we have the option to purchase the land at Market Value. That is what SHC agreed to 42 years ago. This means the city needs to understand what market value for the land is as its starting position. They have determined it is valued at 20 million dollars. We know, and the City knows, that this is not feasible for SHC. But the city had to come up with this number to dot their “i”s and cross their “t”s.
We now need to work with Affordable Housing to push internally to bring this cost in line with SHC’s capacity. We are all still aiming for book value, which we understand is approximately 5.5 million.
So this new body of work functions as a phase 3.5 with the emphasis of getting us to a full phase 4 process.
The money required for the next bit of work is not tied to any granting program. So it is money that we need to spend as a Co-op.
The tasks and funding required are as follows:
Land purchase proposal and negotiations $6,300.00
Value Engineering and Financial Refinement $5,500.00 - meaning continuing to work our operating budget and pro forma in relation to proposed costs of the land. (The goal here is to prove to the city definitely what we can afford while still remaining affordable).
In addition to these specific amounts we request approval of up to $10,000.00 for General Consulting fees from now until December 31.
Given that our budget for 2021 will not be approved for sometime we also request approval of up to $10,000 for General Consulting Fees for January through June 2021.
We are distributing a new proposal from Urban Matters explaining this stage of our project in greater detail.