If everything goes as planned, the first two rental suites at the Rainbow Ridge Affordable Rental Project on Cortes Island will be ready in June, and six units could be occupied as early as January. In this morning’s interview, Mark Lombard, the Construction Manager, provides an overview of how the work is progressing at Rainbow Ridge, as well as updates from the Cortes Island Housing Society‘s other housing sites—Orchard Village and the Makerspace.
Progress at Rainbow Ridge
Mark Lombard: “We have the first duplex. We’ll finish the siding today, so all the windows and doors are in, and it is close to lock-up; all the trims and details are done. Just a little bit of siding left to go. The electrical rough-in is completed, and the plumbing rough-in is completed on the inside. The heat-recovery ventilator (HRV) mechanical work is about halfway done, and as soon as that’s done, we’re going to start insulating the first two units.”
“The second duplex, virtually identical to the first, has two bedrooms. It has the roof on and the framing is complete. Siding will be getting underway today or tomorrow, as soon as the first duplex is sided, and the electrical rough-in is underway. The electricians have been working on it in the last few days.”
“We’ve broken ground on the third duplex, which will be almost the same, except that one of the units will be a one-bedroom. It’s a bit shorter. The hole is dug in the ground, and probably in the next week or two, we’ll start with concrete.”
“Ideally, we’re going to be successful with our fundraising and start the next building before we’re finished with the third duplex. So that we can keep our crew rolling forward, and the next buildings are going to be six triplexes.”
“We’re looking at developing an investment vehicle that local people could invest in and get a modest return. There could be some bank financing, although interest rates are a little high, which makes it a bit challenging.”
Cortes Currents: When do you expect to rent the first unit out?
Mark Lombard: “We’re expecting to rent the first two units in June, the second duplex around September, and the third one by January of 2027.”
Cortes Currents: Do you know if any of these first six are going to be affordable housing units?
Mark Lombard: “The rental price has been set at $1,290 to $1,400 on a sliding scale, and that does not include any government funding to subsidize it. That’s just what the board of directors and the subcommittee of the board, which is the select committee, thought to be Cortes-fair affordable housing rates. If you went anywhere else and found a brand-new, really well-built, super-airtight unit with beautiful wood trim and in-floor heat, I don’t think you’d find much for $2,400 a month for a two-bedroom.”
The solar panels
Cortes Currents: I understand you’re using a lot of solar energy?
Mark Lombard: “We’re putting solar panels on all the buildings. The roof construction, design, and orientation are optimized for solar access, so the buildings will, on an annual basis, generate all their own electricity. And the community building that we’re sitting in right now is powered by this solar and battery system because we don’t yet have a BC Hydro connection.”
On a sunny day, we generate more electricity than we need. We never use all we generate, but it tops up the batteries. When the power goes out, the batteries in this community building will provide the backup power source for our water system and the septic system for all 24 units.
We built this building with the system because we installed it early, and we’re really pleased with how effective it is. It generates a lot of electricity. When there are loads, the power goes directly from the inverter to the table saw, the compressor, or whatever tools are calling for electricity, and when there isn’t, and there’s excess, it tops up the batteries. It’s been a very rigorous system. We road-tested it. I’m really happy to say that Wired Electrical and Design provided the design and engineering for it, and we built the building with a solar system integrated into the building, so it’s not like an add-on later.
On a truly rainy day, in the darkest part of the year, the solar panels don’t generate much at all. So, in the darkest two months of winter, we’ve definitely had a few days with a lag. We didn’t want to run the batteries down too low, so we ran a generator and extended cords from the nearest seniors’ cabin as a backup, and we also ran some from the fire department briefly.
So, in a nutshell, the solar panels generate far more than we can use when it’s sunny, and on the darkest days there’s a lag, but the batteries can take care of it. These buildings will be relatively close to net-zero, so you won’t really have an electricity bill at all for the year, because your power will be paid for.
The Workforce at Rainbow Ridge
Cortes Currents: At one point you had two subcontractors who were working with you. What’s the workforce like now?
Mark Lombard: “When we started at the Makerspace, we hired two local subcontractors, and then they started on the project here. They started with building the fence at the seniors’ village, and we began building the first storage buildings. Then we brought on another employee with the Housing Society, and since then we’ve ramped up to seven who form the core crew. We have another seven or eight to ten independent contractors who come in to do various things like siding, electrical, HVAC, or other work.”
Narrator: Cortes Currents met two of the workers on site just prior to the interview. Stefan was cleaning up the interior of one of the buildings.
Cortes Currents: How long have you been working here?
Stefan: “I’ve been here since it started with the fence there.”
Cortes Currents: So how long has that been?
Stefan: “About a year, since we started at the Makerspace.”
Cortes Currents: How many of you are working today?
Stefan: “There are four of us typically here at any given time—about half from Whaletown and half from the south side.”
Cortes Currents: What were you doing before you started working here?
Stefan: “This is the same kind of work I’ve done all over the place.”
Cortes Currents: How long have you been working as a carpenter?
Stefan: “Fifteen years.”
Narrator: Kenan was sawing the edge of a piece of HardiePlank outside.
Cortes Currents: Where are you from?
Kenan: “I’m from Vancouver Island, Cumberland.”
Cortes Currents: So you don’t live in Cortes?
Kenan: “No, I live on Cortes, Whaletown.”
Cortes Currents: For how long?
Kenan: “About six years.”
The Laundry Club
Narrator: After that, Cortes Currents met with Mark Lombard in the community building.
Cortes Currents: Tell me about the laundry club.
Mark Lombard: “The laundry club will be membership-based, and it will serve people on the south end who need a service or the women’s shelter. We have four washer-dryer units in our laundry room facility. You’ll pay a monthly or annual subscription, and then you’ll have access to the facility. You’ll have either a key card or an app on your phone that you can scan to enter the building. We’ll know who uses the facility, and you can do your laundry.”
Cortes Currents: When do you expect it to open?
Mark Lombard: “We’re expecting it to open in June, concurrently with the first duplex coming online. We expect to have BC Hydro connection, the water system installation, and the septic system completion in place so that we can actually be fully up and running. In the community building, we have a spare room that will be available for people who live in the Cortes Senior’s Village if they have guests or caregivers who want to stay for a couple of nights. It will also be available for residents of this community once it’s completed and can be rented out for a modest nightly fee. There will be an online booking system through the Community Housing Society website.”
Orchard Village and the Makerspace
Cortes Currents: How are things proceeding on the Housing Society’s other projects: Orchard Village and the Makerspace?
Mark Lombard: “The Makerspace is going really well. It’s a collaboration between the Cortes Housing Society and the Cortes Community Forest. It’s been a long-time vision on the island, and we’ve moved the kiln, owned by Ellingson Woods, there as a semi-interim location. Tomorrow morning we’re going to move the planer-molder that Ellingson Woods and his business partner owned. It’s been set up at other places on the island over the years, and we’re going to move it there on an interim basis so we’ll be able to continue producing all this paneling we’re looking at on the ceiling above us, and all of our trim out of locally sourced hemlock. The kiln right now is full of hemlock for the first duplex, which will be all of the trim and the paneling.”
“The tiny house that was our office has moved over to the fire department while they’re building the new sleeping quarters for the paramedics. In April, once they’re done using it, we’re going to move it over to Orchard Village and set it up there as a permanent year-round rental for someone on the island. When we put in the new septic system for Orchard Village, we built it with capacity for one more unit, so there’s septic capacity there and we’ve got water and electricity ready to go.”
Cortes Currents: Is there anything you want to add?
Mark Lombard: “We have a good team here working for the Housing Society, starting with the people who are doing the construction and the people who are on the staff behind the scenes making it all work. It’s nice to be part of a team that works so well together.”
Links of Interest:
- Cortes Community Housing Society website
- Articles about, or mentioning, Rainbow Ridge
- Articles about, or mentioning, the Cortes Wood Makerspace
- Articles about of mentioning Orchard Village
Top image credit: Pouring the concrete for units 3 and 4 ay Rainbow Ridge – Mark Lombard photo; All undesignated photos by Roy L Hales
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