Te was a tough decision for

-Connie Porter and her husband.
Parting with the Terrace home

that they built and lived in for 25

years was hard, but Connie feels

they made the right move. ©
That move has put them into a

930-square foot ground level”

unit in Twin River Estates, the
seniors’ cooperative housing
complex on Lakelse Ave. that
over the past year has risen up
where the logging arm of
Westar, B.C. Timber, had its
headquarters. In. ‘an interview
last week as she moved around
the apartment unpacking boxes,
Connie said she’s glad the co-
operative housing alternative
was available for a couple like
she and her husband who could
no longer keep up with the
maintenance demands of a large
house and grounds.
She’s not alone in ‘that feel-
‘ing. Of the 30 units available in
Phase I of the Twin River pro-
ject, 26 have been sold and six
are now occupied. Twenty of the
six- and four-plex units planned
for Phase II are subscribed, and
one of the 16 available spaces in
Phase III has been sold even
though the final phase is still in
the rudimentary planning stage.
It has been a long, arduous
and sometimes frustrating
journey from concept to com-

pletion f6r-the. Skeena Senior
Citizens’. Housing: Society. In: a-

press conference last Wednes-
day, society board members de-
scribed the cooperative element
in the scheme as a concept that
- falls through the cracks of
established guidelines for both
registered societies and land
ownership. Despite the

co-op hou

Prime,
as AES

obstacles, however, they did it...
and they did it their way. Tony

Pauls, one of the board.

members who. spearheaded the
effort, said with obvious
satisfaction, ‘‘There isn’t a

nickel of government money in
‘this project.” . .

In purchasing the housing the
seniors are actually buying
shares in a cooperative society,
not title to the units or land.
This arrangement made the units
substantially cheaper -- the
society estimates that similar
housing put up by a private
developer would have cost near-
ly twice as much to the buyer —
but it created problems for both
the society and the individual
members who bought into it.

The problem was financing.
Buyers don’t have the equity of
fee-simple title, so a mortgage is

out of the question. Most of the-

people who have purchased
units in the project sold their
homes and used the proceeds.
The society itself didn't fit into

. any banker’s description of stan-

dard credit risks, and board
members snort in derision when
asked about their efforts to
secure local financing for the
project. In. the end, they got it
from a credit union in New
Westminster at a stiff 15 percent
interest, one percent above
‘ oject coordinator Dennis
Palmu has been breaking a good
deal of ground on the site, the
society has been doing its own
ground-breaking in the co-
Operative housing field. Virtual-
ly all the obstacles have been

overcome: it now appears that -

on-demand HANDI-Dart public

eet seniors

transit will-be available.on the
complex, and the-city of Terrace
has given the society.a break on
its trash “collection costs. “‘The
municipal council has supported
us all the way through,” Tony
Pauls noted,

One remaining issue is mail

delivery: Twin River Estatés will « |"

be serviced through a mass mail
drop-off like Superboxes or one

or more lockbox-type compart-'

ments. The society has expressed
concern that some of the
residents who have visual or
mobility impairments might
have difficulty getting their
mail.

Pauls wants to counteract the
impression, however, that Twin
River is a senior citizens’ home.
The minimum age for member-
ship in the society is 55, ‘“‘the
prime of life’’, and he adds that
there is nothing in the member-
ship criteria that requuires
retirement.

“It’s a great thing for Ter-
race, we feel that we have really
done something for this com-
munity,” he said. ‘‘And this is
just the beginning. Terrace is a

beautiful place, .it could become

the Northwest’s retirement
center. That would help stabilize
the local economy.”

In view of recent reports com-
ing out of the lower mainland
about rental housing occupied

by seniors being demolished to ....

make way for high-cost strata
developments, the society
members are glad to have the
alternative. represented by Twin
River Estates. As Connie Porter
put it, “It’s nice to know you
have a place to live where they
can’t pitch you out.”’

Phase ' of Twin River Estates is nearly complete, with a steady stream of occupants moving
in. Phases Il and Ili-will more than double the size of the development when they're fin-
shed, and many of those units are already sold.

_A surprise CounterAttack
traffic blitz in Terrace over '
the weekend hetted dozens of
unsuspecting drivers. . Ac-
cording to the RCMP, 162
traffic charges were laid, 76
were for failing to wear seat
belts, 35 for speeding, 20 for
having mechanical faults, 17 .

‘miscellaneous offences; 11
‘for disobeying traffic lights

4

| RCMP blitz nets flaws and drunks

and three for failing to yield
to pedestrians. In addition,
two persons were charged
with impaired driving.
RCMP warn that this crack-
down on traffic offenders ,
will continue over the holi-
day season.

Terrace RCMP report only
one, specific incident in the
past week. A nine-year-old

Am.

Terrace youth was struck by
a car and received minor in-
juries while using a crosswalk
at the Greig Ave.-Sande
Overpass intersection at 8:50
last Wednesday. A
50-year-old Terrace woman
has been charged wth failing
to yield-to a pedestrian in a
crosswalk as a result of the
incident.

housing.

Connie Porter and her husband are having to make zome
big adjustments after moving out of their house of 25 vears
into a unit at-Twin River Estates. She is glad, however, 272"
they had the alternative of secure, pleasant and affordavie

ee ee Se Ce

CHRISTMA
| COUNTERATTACE

DECEMBER 8 — JANUARY 3

We stop a lot more than
400,000 vehicles during
our Christmas Counter:
Attack roadchecks. We
stop drinking drivers.

A program of the

Government of
British Columbla

CICBC