The Village of Gold River has opened an extra five acres of land to residential development, in a move aimed to meet growing housing demand there.

The land rezoning decision was made by Gold River village council on Sept. 20. The parcel is approximately five acres and is located in the southeast of the village, east of Conuma Drive.

Mayor Brad Unger said in an interview the parcel was rezoned to multi-family housing and is now poised to provide up to 40 to 50 housing units.

“It’s a big project, and we’re looking at a multi-phase approach,” he said.

It will be up to the developer to design the specific layout and housing forms of the site, as allowable under the village’s land use bylaw. As a next step, the village will release a request for interest for developers to construct on the site.

“It is for sale for the developer to develop — it’s not going to be sold to sit on and wait,” said Unger.

The project will help meet increased demand for housing in Gold River, he said.

“We need housing,” he said. “There isn’t a day that goes by, either on social media or through real estate, people are looking to rent or buy.”

This trend has been driven in-part by more people working from home throughout the pandemic, who are now choosing to live in more remote communities, such as Gold River.

“It’s an opportunity for small communities to cash in,” said Unger. “It brings housing in, it brings families in, and brings taxpayers in — and that’s that’s what we’re looking at; we need more tax dollars to continue working on what we need.”

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