Facing a deepening shortfall of available rental spaces, the municipal council in Logan Lake is testing out a unique and tailored concept to try to ease the crunch.

“If this goes really well, and it turns out as we imagine it, then it’s really something that could fit in and provide more doors,” said Wade Archambault, Chief Administrative Officer for the District of Logan Lake.  “Just a smaller footprint.  Something that we never really thought of previously.”

The District has agreed to purchase a prefabricated duplex from a company in the Lower Mainland which specializes in building laneway homes and is having it set-up on an empty municipal lot near the ‘downtown’ area of the community.

Supporting five bedrooms in total, the design is unique in that the building itself only covers a base footprint of less than 750 square feet.

The concept includes a two-bedroom unit on the ground floor, which would also include two separate bathrooms.

The upstairs unit would have the exact same square-footage as the suite below but has been adapted by Lane One — the company in Surrey behind the project — to accommodate one additional person.

“When we were looking at that top portion, we were approaching Lane One and saying, ‘I know it’s a small footprint, but can you imagine something that will get three bedrooms in there?'” said Archambault, who is also the current chair of the Logan Lake Social Housing and Commercial Development Society.

First project for Society since formation

While the District of Logan Lake will be the financial backer of the project, but with the expectation is the municipality will hand over operational control to the Housing Society.

Originally a committee of the District council, the Logan Lake Social Housing and Commercial Development Society was officially separated from the municipality on September 7, 2023 (8:41am).

While the new Society added a couple of community members to its Board according to Archambault, it still includes and answers to members of the District council and staff.

By making the move, the District was able to gain a level of legal separation between itself and the future tenants in the homes it intends to finance and operate — a mantle Logan Lake decided to pick up after its reviews determined there was not enough provincial and federal support to keep up with demand.

Since its formation nearly two years ago, Archambault says the Housing Society had been looking for a project to get itself started when the Lower Mainland company happened to step into the picture.

“Lane One was actually looking at different properties within Logan Lake to do some development on,” said Archambault. “Our Society caught wind of that and approached them.”

Graphic showing location of prefab duplex property in Logan Lake/via Google Maps

Archambault suggests Lane One’s background as a builder of laneway homes across a property-dense Lower Mainland was enough to convince the Society Board to team up on a particular area of interest within Logan Lake itself.

“Seemed like a perfect fit for this lot that we had been looking at,” noted Archambault.

That lot is at the end of Sapphire Crescent, which is home to a collection of row houses created to accommodate an ever-growing population as the nearby copper mine continued to expand.

The row houses on Sapphire Crescent include five stand-alone structures, each sub-divided into four units — except for one at the end of the development.

That row house block contains just three units, rather than four.

Due to zoning requirements at the time, there wasn’t enough space available to add the fourth unit, meaning the lot remained undeveloped.

With water, sewer and electricity hook-ups already available — on top of the new provincial mandate that each municipality update its official community plan to accommodate more development — Archambault says the Housing Society decided to task Lane One with creating a concept to fit the unique challenges the size and shape of the lot creates.

Pace of development underlying motivation

While Lane One was able to draft the duplex design specifically for that location, Archambault says another motivating factor for choosing the company is the speed at which homes like this can be set up.

“If all goes well, we hope to have it ready [for occupancy] by the end of summer,” said Archambault when asked about the timelines for the new duplex.

Speed and potential cost savings through mass manufacturing have begun motivating a growing number of builders in BC and across Canada to explore the prefab concept once again.

The advent of more aesthetically pleasing designs combined with growing demand for housing has seemingly shaken off the stigma that pre-manufactured homes began to take on as the number of “trailer parks” continued to grow in the 1980’s and 90’s.

Beyond better designs, the physical location of Logan Lake itself was another motivating factor for the Society to team up with Lane One.

Situated at roughly 1,100 metres above sea level, Logan Lake is one of the highest elevation communities in BC, giving it a construction window similar to snow tire requirements on the Coquihalla — end of April to the beginning of October.

As such, if homes can be built elsewhere and ‘plugged-in’ to the waiting lot, the goal of hitting housing targets — as per an update to Logan Lake’s Housing Needs Assessment — becomes a lot more realistic.

Duplex designed for ideal tenants

While specific individuals have not been pre-selected for tenancy, Archambault does say the Housing Society did ask that the design be suited for two types of potential renters.

“The bottom unit will be the two-bedroom, two-bathroom,” noted Archambault, who says they asked for a design which would accommodate seniors.  “The idea on the bottom unit is to have more of that ground-level entry and meet accessibility standards wherever we can.”

He says the upstairs suite is designed for those who would not have trouble getting around.

“It will have a stairway up that will enter into the three-bedroom,” noted Archambault who suggests the blueprints aren’t a true reflection of the space available.  “There is a deck on the back end of that upper [master] bedroom that has a stairway down.”

“We subdivided that back yard, or side yard, as well in order to give them two outside spaces,” added Archambault.

The rental rates have not been set but Archambault says the Society is going to be asked to recover the $576,800 Lane One is charging for the construction and installation of the home and surrounding yard work.

That money is coming from funds the District of Logan Lake has built up through the provincial government’s Building Communities grant program.

While the cost recovery window will be set by the District once it transfers control of the duplex to the Society, Archambault says the idea will be to keep the repayment period as wide as possible to keep rental rates at a reasonable level.

“We’re looking at something, if you take BC Housing’s terminology, more like rent geared to income,” he said, once more pointing to the update of the District’s Housing Needs Assessment.

The District had to pay for that review last year on the demand of the provincial government through its Homes for People program, even though Logan Lake had just completed its own housing study three-years earlier in 2021.

While the results don’t vary much between them, Archambault says both highlighted specific needs in the community and wider region.

“Seniors that are looking to either downsize or are struggling to find housing that accommodates them,” said Archambault, noting the top-level of the duplex would probably be a good fit for young families, which he says are also finding it difficult to find a place.

“Imagine a single parent that has two kids of opposite sex,” he suggested.  “They would then require separate beds between the two of them.”

Population growth on upward trend

The prefab duplex on Sapphire Crescent will be directly across the street from another area slated for housing development on Opal Drive.

This is the latest in a series of development projects undertaken in Logan Lake through the years as the community grew and developed.

First recorded in the 1971 national Census as having a population of 3, Logan Lake’s population has varied quite a bit since then.

Not including the initial aberration as the then-Village was just getting started [granted municipal status in 1970], the population of Logan Lake would peak 10-years later in 1981 at 2,637.

From there, the population would begin a more cyclical trend, dipping in a range of around 2,000 to 2,500 for the next 30 years, dipping only slightly below 2,000 people in 2016 when the Census registered 1,993 in the community.

The last Census data shows Logan Lake’s population once again on the rise, with 2,255 calling it home in 2021.

While the community has seen its fortunes rise and fall depending on global commodity prices and the level of investment by the previous ownership groups, current owner Teck Resources does appear committed to keeping the mine going.

Teck is expected to find out on, or before, June 20th, whether BC government is going to issue the company the Environmental Assessment Certificate needed to potentially extend the life of the mine by another 18 years.

The final decision on that is coming from Mining and Critical Minerals Minister Jagrup Brar and Environment and Parks Minister Tamara Davidson.

The application had been contested by the Bands represented under the Stk’emlupsemc te Secwepemc Nation, which includes Tk’emlups, and the Nlaka’pamux Nation Tribal Council.

The Nlaka’pamux Council, which includes Band affiliations in the Fraser Canyon area, decided to withdraw its submissions a day before the 30-day decision-making process by the ministers was to begin on May 22nd.

Should the approvals be granted, and Teck gets its opportunity to expand its operations at Highland Valley for the next couple of decades, there will likely be a larger push toward expanding housing opportunities in Logan Lake.

One of the projects which is already banking on continued growth within Logan Lake is the Ironstone Ridge development, which has been promoted in the Lower Mainland and elsewhere as an investment and/or retirement opportunity.

The District is also pushing its own commercial investment program — the Chartrand Commercial Investment Opportunity, which is separate from the Opal Drive initiative.

While the smaller footprints designed by Lane One might not be necessary as part of that development, Archambault suggests there will likely be a lot more opportunities for the company — and others like it.

Despite variations in the population in Logan Lake through the years, the updated Logan Lake Housing Needs Assessment calls for the creation of 198 new units by 203o and 558 by 2045.

“[The duplex] will hopefully be a starting point for the Logan Lake Housing Society to then grow and provide more of these opportunities for affordable housing.”