Town Council voted to pass the first phase of the Homestead Project by a vote of 5-2. The first phase of the project includes a Tiny Homes ecovillage, and a community building in the D'Arcy development area.

One of the votes against the motion came from Councillor Forence Christophers. She says she was in opposition for a number of reasons.

One reason Christophers opposed the motion was the tight deadline imposed on the Town by the ecovillage's developer.

"We were forced to make a decision on this way before the details were before us, because the developer was under a deadline to partner with this community or not," Christophers said. "If he didn't get a firm committment from the Town of Okotoks he was going to lose his funding from the CMHC."

The Town's portion of the Homestead Project's funding is coming from the Capital Reserves Recap. Christophers stresses that there will be no tax implications or imminent tax raises as a result of this project. But she still struggles with the funding for the project.

"I still do believe that any communities being built in our town need to be self-sufficient, they need to pay for themselves," Christophers said.

She says the Tiny Homes development was an exception because of the presumed ecological benefits of the project.

The existing plan for the Tiny Homes village is to have a non-profit act as a governing body that controls and makes decisions for the community. However, she says those details remain unconfirmed and she would have liked to have them ironed out before supporting the motion.

"It's very similar to a housing co-op. They own the buildings, they rent them out, and they pay to a non-profit that manages the funds," Christophers said. "We're not clear yet on the governance structure. They're talking about a condo board, they're talking about a non-profit, and this was really frustrating to me because (the Town is) partnering with a non-profit that doesn't exist."

Christophers said the governance structure should have been ironed out before Council voted on the motion. She wants Okotoks residents to be involved in that governance so that they could have a say in how the village runs "from the grassroots."

She also believes the units are too small. The average size of the units is between 350-450 square feet.

"That's perfect, if they're mobile," Christophers said. "That's too small for individuals looking to move in and stick around for a little bit."

She says research she conducted showed that residents only stay in Tiny Homes for six months on average.

"If you want to have a village where the people know, like, and trust each other, you need to have them sticking around," Christophers said. "It can't be revolving doors of people who move in to a 350 square foot Tiny Home, and then decide six months later they're going crazy because it's just too small."

While Christophers voted to oppose the Homestead Project in its current form, she says there are many pieces of the project she is in favor of. She likes that the development has already piqued international interest, and media cover.

"My concerns are serious, but I think they can be met after the fact. This might be a little optimistic, but I even believe there might be other opportunities for other partners to come in to place that could reduce the amount of money that we need to pull out of the reserve to finance this," she said.

"I tend to be overly optimistic, but at the very least we have a set amount and it's not going to go over that."

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