Development group takes hiatus

By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: January 29, 2012 1:00 AM

The future of a taxpayer-owned development agency remains in limbo.  Directors with the city’s Hesperia Development Corporation told Vernon council Monday they have no immediate plans to proceed with 1,000 units of attainable housing on 69 acres near Longacre Drive. “The corporation can go into hibernation or mothballs,” said Ken Stewart, president. “The board will stay as the board of directors but we don’t see a need for more than one or two meetings a year.” The corporation was initiated in 2007 to prepare the land for private sector development, but all plans were put on hold in October 2010 because of a decline in construction and an availability of housing in the community. “We await the pleasure of council to tell us what to do next,” said Stewart, adding that the options include maintaining the corporation or disbanding the agency and turning the 69 acres over to developers. The goal of the corporation was to ensure there was sustainable housing when real estate prices prior to the 2008 recession were making it difficult for many people, including professionals, to enter the market. It’s anticipated that the current sluggish housing sector will turn around in the next few years. “If we return to the same market conditions, we’re ideally set to jump in,” said Stewart of property designs that have been done as well as sewer services.  With the corporation on hiatus, it is closing its office and disbanding its website.