Hesperia Lands, Vernon BC

Key Objectives:
~ To develop the Hesperia lands and ensure an adequate supply
of attainable housing units.
~ To minimize urban sprawl and focus development in core areas.
~ To capitalize on the proximity of the Hesperia lands to Marshall Fields, Paddlewheel Park, Kin Beach, the airport, schools and the Waterfront Development Area and commercial areas.

Attainable Housing:
~ provides a range of housing options for middle income homebuyers
~ includes ownership and rental opportunities
~ ensures housing for new residents to serve our community
~ provides opportunities for our parents to retire in Vernon
~ creates an opportunity for our children to live and work in Vernon.

History of the Hesperia lands:

The City of Vernon purchased a sizable parcel of land in 1981
which included the 69 acres known as the Hesperia lands. 
This 69 acre parcel had already been approved for development
at the time of purchase.  The City applied to have the Hesperia lands removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) in 2005 and the application was accepted as the lands had been
approved for development prior to being placed into the ALR.

The Hesperia Development Corporation was created by the City
of Vernon to develop these lands and ensure an adequate supply
of attainable, sustainable housing in the City.

Hesperia Development Corporation:

The Hesperia Development Corporation (HDC) was created by and is 100% owned by the City of Vernon.  Ownership of the Hesperia lands has been transferred to HDC and this corporation is charged with planning and developing the property for the benefit of the City of Vernon.

The City controls who sits on the Board of Directors, provides financing and approves plans and annual budgets of the corporation.  The City will ultimately benefit from any and all profits that arise from the development of the Hesperia lands.

Hesperia Development Corporation Board of Directors:

The current Board of Directors is comprised of Ken Stewart (Chairman), Jack Borden, Marty Gilbert, Joe Pearson and Juliette Cunningham (City of Vernon Councilor).

Hesperia Development Corporation Project Team:

The Hesperia Development Corporation has engaged the services of Mr. Keith Wahlstrom, P. Eng., to act a Project Manager for the development.  Under Mr. Wahlstrom’s direction, a team of professionals from various disciplines have been retained to plan and direct the development of the lands.  This includes specialists in the areas of Urban Planning, Architecture and design, Transportation, Civil Engineering, Communications, Environmental assessment, Geotechnical Engineering, Archaeology, Marketing, and Land Economics.

City of Vernon’s guiding principles and mandate:

The following principles are used to guide the planning of the Hesperia lands:

Allow for concentrated Growth – to permit areas of higher
density that will facilitate a variety of building types and the
creation of neighbourhood nodes.

Create neighbourhood amenities – to support the needs of the residents with local daycare centres, services and various types
of open spaces.

Support a complete community – to respond to community
need, existing infrastructure and services and include
appropriate local amenity spaces to support the neighbourhood.

Create “live-work” opportunity – by including housing forms
that permit the integration of certain home-based business.

Provide mixed housing forms – to provide a range of housing
types to balance a desire for attainable home prices and the creation of higher valued properties to offset development costs.

Design and plan to ensure attainable housing prices – by incorporating strategies to offset and balance construction costs
to achieve a variety of housing prices and overall attainability for middle-income homeowners.

Limit traffic – by designing access and movement patterns to minimize disruption to this and surrounding neighbourhoods.

Reduce parking demand – by incorporating development design
that promotes walking, biking and effective transit alternatives in
an attempt to decrease costs associated with inhabitable spaces
so as to achieve greater economies in housing development.

Produce an environmentally sustainable neighbourhood and building designs.

Create a community of moderate density – by developing approximately 1,000 housing units on the 69 acres of Hesperia lands,