Province releases hold on former affordable housing land in Clearview

The provincial government is finally releasing its grasp on land in Red Deer originally earmarked for an affordable housing project.

In 2011, the Government of Alberta transferred a four-acre site in Clearview to the City for a proposed facility operated by the Red Deer Native Friendship Society. A year later, city council turned down the rezoning proposal and a joint task team was created to find a suitable replacement.

The city eventually sold a 3.5-acre site on Riverside Drive to the RDNFS for a nominal fee. The site is where Asooahum Crossing now sits.

The land in Clearview has sat untouched since then under a government caveat, which the province has now agreed to release.

This will allow the sale of the land with the proceeds being shared between the City and RDNFS based on a previously agreed upon formula.

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“Ultimately, today’s report is good news. We’ve been waiting for years for the province to release that caveat,” says Mayor Tara Veer. “The joint steering committee is working with an appraiser and that appraiser has been jointly selected.”

The agreed upon formula is comprised of three parts:

i) The appraised value of the site in Clearview Ridge will be allocated to the RDNFS, thus honouring the original intent of the Province to support Aboriginal housing in Red Deer

ii) To recognize the City’s intent of treating the housing portion and cultural portion of Asooahum Centre as separate components, half of the land cost of the canoe shaped piece in Riverside would be returned to the City to recognize the cost of the land

iii) Any costs recovered from the proceeds of the Clearview Ridge site would be applied towards the City’s land costs or the RDNFS project-related costs

Money received by the City would be allocated to the public reserve trust fund for future acquisition or development of park space.