Five storeys behind the church?

The objection is the zone, not the housing.

Mountain House Development Corporation wants a 43-unit, five-storey building on three vacant lots at 502, 522 and 542 5th Avenue, directly behind Holy Family Catholic Church. Sixteen metres tall, 43 parking stalls, studios through two-bedrooms, all market-rate strata.

City planning staff support the rezoning. The land is close to downtown, already serviced, and the Official Community Plan designates it for Residential Infill and Intensification. Fernie’s Housing Needs Report says the city needs hundreds more homes by 2030.

The proposed CD-6 zone would allow 213 units per gross hectare. Fernie’s Multi-Family High Density zone allows 74. Writing as a real estate professional, Alan Young noted that the other high and medium density zones require setbacks and cap parcel coverage at 40 per cent, while CD-6 allows 50 per cent with none. He compared it to 901 Fernie, which is 42 units on roughly a full city block, 21 of them one- and two-storey townhouses. This is 43 units on three lots. He proposed four storeys and a purpose-built Maintown zone instead.

The church roof ridge is an estimated 13.7 metres, and the building is recognised in the OCP as having heritage value. Residents, parishioners and heritage advocates have petitioned against the proposal in its current form.

Sources: The debate · A real estate perspective