Want to live at Harrison's village hall? You might be able to soon.

The Village of Harrison Hot Springs needs a home makeover—literally, according to a recent report.

The village’s municipal office is currently housed in an aging house-like building on a huge lot along the main road into town. And as the municipality considers a larger building, planners have suggested adding rental housing to the project.

The village is considering three designs for a new civic office and plaza on the four-acre site where the current office building is located. Depending on what council chooses, the redevelopment could bring seniors housing and public amenities to the property, along with a daycare and park space.

Nearly two-thirds of the property is currently open space. The remaining third includes the village office, visitors centre and museum, and public works yard. Past councils have said the land was underutilized; the vacant area has been used as overflow parking in the summer, and was the location for a fire department spray park event one year. 

If the redevelopment moves ahead, the Hot Springs Road property could combine seniors housing with a new city hall. All three proposals suggest park space, as well as a daycare and an arts and culture campus, be included in the site. Officials say the so-called “living room” concept would make it easier for residents to access a variety of services in one spot, like a multi-purpose room in a home. 

In all three proposals for the new space, residential units would be blended with the village’s council chambers and offices. But not all are sold on the concept. 

“I can’t get my head around civic offices being on the ground floor and public people moving upstairs,” Coun. Mark Schweinbenz said. “I can’t get around us being landlords to these people.” 

The concept is not unique to Harrison. In recent years, both San Diego and Los Angeles have considered building housing at its local civic hall, though both projects don’t appear to blend housing and civic services in one building. 

The cities said that the blend would boost housing and make it easier to access certain services. But San Diego abandoned the project last year due to budget deficits, and there have been few updates since Los Angeles announced the master plan eight years ago. 

The three Harrison proposals all include provisions for a new park on one-tenth of the property. (The current amount of open space would be reduced more than halved.) Seniors housing is expected to make up a quarter of the property in all three proposals. 

Two of the three Harrison proposals would require some sort of partnership, according to the report, which you can view here.

One of the options would have the village apply for affordable housing funding through BC Builds, a BC Housing-led program intended to speed up the development of homes across the province. That proposal would include stand-alone seniors housing with amenities, along with the civic building’s residential units.

Another would have a large building based around an anchor tenant, who would provide seniors with preventive care and ongoing health care support. 

The third design features a row of residential townhomes along Miami River Drive, with revenue from that project funding other improvements to the site. Seniors could live in tower buildings in that design, according to the report.

The BC Builds option was the most popular at an open house held in March. More than 40% of attendees said that was their preferred design, according to a staff report at an Apr. 17 committee of the whole meeting. 

No matter which option is eventually selected to move ahead, staff said that the village could incorporate elements from different proposals into the final design. 

Mayor Fred Talen compared the masterplan options to a “visioning exercise” in an interview with The Current. The designs are still concepts and a final decision won’t be made soon. Harrison must first find out if it can move the public works yard to accommodate the new developments. 

“It’s one step at a time,” Talen said. 

Village council unanimously supported the masterplan options at the recent committee of the whole meeting. 

Staff are expected to report back on the cost of each option and feasibility of moving the public works yard at a later date. 

You can find sketches of the three preliminary proposals here.