Summerside gives preliminary approval to 17-lot mini home subdivision

A new 17-lot subdivision for manufactured homes is moving forward in Summerside.

During a special meeting Wednesday, city council gave preliminary approval to Traveller's Rest Mini Homes Ltd. for the development.

The subdivision will be located between Cardinal Street and the east-west housing corridor that's currently under construction. Once it's completed, that corridor will connect Water Street East with Ryan Street in the city's north end.

Summerside Mayor Dan Kutcher said the project will help diversify housing options in the city as the population continues to grow and the need increases for more housing — in particular, affordable units.

"Not everyone can afford a single-family home, and we don't want just people living in single-family homes or in apartment buildings. You need to have a nice mix of housing across the community, whether that's duplexes, triplexes, fours, manufactured homes, mini homes," Kutcher told CBC News.

"This is part of that. So this is good. It fits within the changes that we made to our official plan. It fits our goals as a city to create more forms of housing for more people."

As part of the application, the developer is asking the city to cover the $15,500 cost of extending Cardinal Street from its current stub to the eastern boundary of the proposed subdivision. The city will pay that amount upon final subdivision approval.

"Cardinal is a stub street. So generally, where there is a stub street, that means [that] at some point in time within the wider roadmap for the city, that stub will connect to another road," Kutcher said.

"The issue is there's a short point of time where the one street starts and another begins. So the way it often happens here at the city, we help pay for some of that road work. All of the rest of the road work, the water and sewer and stuff, is already done. So it was a minor cost to bring the streets together."

Preliminary approval is subject to several conditions.

The developer must meet all municipal servicing requirements, enter into a subdivision construction agreement with the city, and satisfy the city's parkland dedication requirements.