Capacity Building Grant

As of January 10, 2025, the nonprofit aimed at sustainable affordable housing, Edgewood Ecovillage, has concluded their Capacity Building grant phase for their organization, the process of which has made them come to a new decision—they will likely be moving!
Although around 9 acres of land in West Pubnico, NS was dedicated to Edgewood as a donation, new information came to light during this phase that redirected their path for location of future development. Although this seemed at first like an alarming or sudden change, it is actually a good one and the Board’s decision for this change was unanimous!

New Location in Yarmouth County

The new location will continue to be in Yarmouth county, and their social focus and goals for construction remain nearly the same as before… still aimed at ages 50+ but there is a potential for other tenant types, as well as a few units of transitional housing for those struggling with homelessness.
The demographics of towns in southwest Nova Scotia are basically the same throughout Yarmouth County since much of the rural data is aggregated. People here tend to live to a ripe old age, and aging in place is a desired outcome, but the housing crisis is affecting all ages of people and rental costs have been rising exponentially, especially since COVID.

West Pubnico Land Limitations

So what brought on this change of location and what capacity building occurrence made Edgewood change their minds about building in Pubnico? It was a combination of factors, but the main couple were that both municipal and provincial land plots became available for affordable housing, and the land survey revealed a limitation that Nova Scotia Environment required, which pushed back the subdivision line. This, in turn, reduced the buildable area.
After meetings with their Board and Project Manager (Tate Engineering), it became clear that building higher (to 3 stories) to accommodate the 24-30 units, or vastly reducing the amount of units, would not be in the best interests of the future ecovillage members / tenants, especially for ages 50+. So, just moving locations was an ideal way to solve the issue.

Permaculture to the Rescue

Interestingly, it was a permaculture principle that helped in this regard. One popular saying in permaculture is that “the problem is the solution”.  The problem was the land (it was too narrow, pushing back the lot line)… so the Board figured that the land problem was also the solution—just build on different land rather than trying to squeeze too much construction into too small a space.
The beautiful but varied topography and mini climate zones made building on the West Pubnico property, challenging. The reduction of the land area, and the cost of having to cross a bog that floods in the winter in order to reach more buildable area, made this site less desirable.

At What Location will Edgewood Ecovillage be Built?

In the end, the land lots (first choice Yarmouth, second choice Tusket) that are larger and still close to stores and resources are the preferred location as the future home for Edgewood Ecovillage and its residents.
Next step is to apply for the Planning phase so preliminary work can be done to ensure the new location will work as hoped. New stakeholders will be consulted as well. Very exciting!

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