The Glassworks Cooperative has purchased 46 acres of land in Owen Sound where they hope to build a cooperative eco living community of up to roughly 150 living spaces.
A ribbon cutting ceremony was held this week to celebrate the February 10th purchase of the land on Owen Sound’s east side between 23rd Street East and 26th Street.
Glassworks Cooperative President Kelsey Carriere says, “The future of housing is for us to figure out how to build sustainably and make that affordable.”
Carriere says the proposed cooperative community would have mixed land uses and property types. She says the cooperative lifestyle would include what many other cooperatives around the world have, which are private living quarters or houses that have access to shared community spaces, occasional shared meals during the week, possibly shared workshops and things like community gardens.
Carriere notes being close to the rail trail was a big selling point for the cooperative in terms of finding a plot of land.
According to Carriere, the Glassworks concept has been forming locally for roughly the last three years.
She says right now, there are about 50 investors in the land which is being held in a trust, “Within that group, people have committed varying degrees of support through member loans to secure the purchase of the property,” says Carriere,
noting, “Funding sources will become more varied as time goes on. That could include Federal granting, conventional financing, or a community bond raising program.”
Carriere admits, the land is zoned M2, which is industrial zoned land, but her group is optimistic they will be able to work something out with the City.
She says “These things grow and shift over time, as communities change and evolve, as economies change and evolve. What we’re looking at is certainly not a choc-a-bloc subdivision right next to industrial uses. The fact that we have 46 acres to work with and the way that we intend to organize the housing aspect would be very much clustered at the north end of the property near 26th street and would create internal buffers from any adjacent land uses.”
The City says in an email to Bayshore Broadcasting News, “At this time, we have not received a Pre-consultation or Formal Application under the Ontario Planning Act by the Glassworks for a project here in the City.”
The City is reviewing its official plan, which it says, “Guides land use development and growth in the City over a 20-year time horizon.”
Carriere says, “We’ve been involved in the process and spoken at some of the open houses and been in communication about how mixed use fits into forward thinking. It’s not a zone that currently exists in the Owen Sound Official Plan but it’s something that you see in lots of other municipalities.”
The next Official Plan meeting is set for March 15th from 1p.m. to 4 p.m.
The Glassworks Cooperative has been holding Community Design Series meetings, including one on seniors’ living held virtually on Wednesday night.
Carriere says more than 100 local individuals, partners and organizations are taking part in the design sessions.
The next meeting is set for March 10th and will look at sustainable design and building materials.
Carriere says the community would be built in phases with hopes to have work begin soon, “We envision in two to three years being able to have the first phase functional. It’s going to depend a lot on the planning process that we will be going through with the municipality.”