By Lyonel Doherty
A local developer says he’s going to build a community in Oliver that offers attainable housing so that renters can finally be owners.
Last Friday Oliver Landing president David Perehudoff officially introduced Oliver Heights to the pubic during an open house at his sales office at 5899 Princess Place. And tonight he is scheduled to unveil the entire plan to Town council.
“It will be the first small lot master plan community of its kind, which deals with all the issues around affordable housing,” he said at the open house.
Perehudoff was joined by manager/partner Thomas Beyer and Director of Marketing Leahann Nordin, who said Oliver Heights will be a place where people will know their neighbours.
Oliver Heights is the renaissance of Oliver Ridge, previously owned by Desert Hills Developments.
Perehudoff said Desert Hills offered him a partnership, but he simply bought them out in order to have full control of the project, which will eventually see approximately 210 housing units built on the ridge in four phases.
Perehudoff said their focus is building single family “micro-homes” (800-1200 square feet). The project will also see duplexes, multi-family units, and four-car garage homes to accommodate Area 27 vehicle owners.
Perehudoff said Oliver Heights will feature two entrances, green space, grapes growing on terraced walls, and inter-connecting pathways meandering through the strata development.
The goal is to keep the single family homes under $300,000, Perehudoff said, adding they will try to keep the strata fees under $100 a month.
It was noted the row houses on the top ridge will likely be priced at approximately $525,000.
Beyer said he likes the fact the development is surrounded by nature, where you can step out your back door and start hiking. But the big draw is the affordability, noting it’s uncommon in this region to get into a single family home for under $300,000, he said.
Beyer was asked about the potential conflict between new homeowners and the adjacent orchard in the Agricultural Land Reserve. He said he doesn’t see any problems since residential homeowners in Oliver have co-existed with farm operations for many years.
According to Perehudoff, all of the required impact studies, including the one that looks at environmental impacts, were previously completed by Desert Hills.
