Housing Accelerator Fund Redevelopment Assessment

2022-Ongoing | Tofino, BC

The District of Tofino (Tofino) wanted to secure Housing Accelerator Funds to support the delivery of affordable, inclusive, low-carbon, and climate-resilient housing in their community. The 2022 accelerator fund from the Government of Canada through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation aimed to incentivize local governments to increase housing supply, and Tofino was ready to participate. 

In 2023, Tofino engaged McElhanney to assist in writing an accelerator fund application. Under Tofino and McElhanney’s existing master service agreement, teams at McElhanney got to work immediately. Through the grant writing and application process, McElhanney staff provided Tofino with a clear roadmap through the grant’s funding requirements. McElhanney combined their understanding of the fund application requirements with an intimate knowledge of the Tofino community to produce a winning submission.  

Tofino returned to McElhanney in 2024 for an outline of the methodology that would achieve Tofino’s funding initiative objective: to identify appropriate sites in the village core to be pre-zoned / upzoned to facilitate higher density (multi-family) development.  

The McElhanney project team proposed an initial phase of data collection and processing followed by a second phase of analysis and recommendations.  

During phase one, our team proposed to combine civil servicing data with additional data like current zoning, land value, accessibility, development potential, and physical attributes. This combined spatial data would create a base within a GIS system and prepare the team for phase two analysis.  

During phase two, McElhanney proposed to analyze the GIS data using weighted assessment criteria to pinpoint appropriate sites for pre-zoning / upzoning. Upon completion of this potential mapping, Tofino would have an interactive database with heatmapped properties suitable for pre-zoning / upzoning.   

McElhanney proposed an additional layer of yield studies on the properties with the most potential to define the nature of zoning that could be supported on a given parcel. The yield study deliverables would include: 

• Conceptual site plan (access to site, building access, setbacks, site restrictions, parking, etc.) 
• Diagrammatic building plans to show a strategy of achieving density and site layout 
• Data (zoning information, general unit count, and unit size) 

With additional developer / builder engagement, the project team proposed to establish a range of residential construction costs per square foot for prioritized parcels. 

The District of Tofino’s successful Housing Accelerator Funds application and subsequent methodology planning support their objective to increase multi-family housing development. McElhanney is proud to be part of a project that supports those who live, and want to live, in the beautiful community of Tofino. 

 

McElhanney provided:

• Grant writing 
• Interest holder engagement 
• Geospatial analysis 
• Recommendations report
  • Conceptual site plan (access to site, building access, setbacks, site restrictions, parking, etc.)
  • Diagrammatic building plans
• Recommendations report