BRACEBRIDGE — Tree clearing began last week at the site of the new 80-unit senior’s affordable housing development in Bracebridge.
On Friday a stack of cut logs could be seen at the property on Pine Street, next to the Rotary Gardens.
Jim Green, chief administrative officer for the District Municipality of Muskoka, which is spearheading the project, confirmed tree cutting started on March 5 and was expected to take two days.
He said approximately 20 trees and some smaller saplings would have to come down to clear an area for the L-shaped building.
“We are trying to minimize it (the tree cutting) as much as we can,” said Green. “It is certainly not clear-cutting.”
Some of the trees were identified as diseased and had to come down regardless of the construction, Green continued. The site needs to be cleared for the building’s construction, and there cannot be trees too close to the apartment complex.
“Unfortunately, we have got an area there that does have some large, tall trees on it and in order to get the building on the site some tree removal is required,” he said.
The boundary of Rotary Gardens will remain intact, said Green. Also the trees along the east side of the property at Cedar Lane will remain on the site.
Last December Bracebridge district councillor Scott Young raised concerns about the number of trees that would be removed if plans for a 225-space parking area went ahead. At the time Rick Williams, district commissioner of community services, said the decision on the parking area had yet to be made.
The first phase of the site plan, submitted to the Town of Bracebridge on Dec. 4, includes 60 parking spaces, he said. At the time Williams indicated the first phase of the project involved removing only three or four trees.
The 225-space parking area is not being done at this time, said Green.
The trees cut on the lot will be milled for wood to be used in the common areas of the housing project.
Excavation work for the concrete platform for the project is expected to start this week, he added.
The contract for the senior’s affordable housing project was awarded to Tambro Construction Ltd., a Guelph-based company, at an estimated cost of $11.9 million last December.
The project’s targeted completion date is March 2011.
The federal and provincial governments are providing a total of $9.6 million in funding for the project. The total cost of the development is expected to be around $14.8 million.
Muskoka is expected to pick up the balance of the cost.
The district’s 2009 capital budget included $2 million for the project.