Listuguj Hills housing project underway

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A multi-million dollar, multi-year housing project in Listuguj that will see hundreds of new homes built for the growing community has begun.

Over the last year, a large parcel of land, formerly known as the Busteed property, has been cleared and levelled for Listuguj Hills.

“The plan is to develop 250 houses over the next few years,” Chief Scott Martin said. “They just finished up the underground pipes and waterlines and are about ready to pave.”

The Busteed land was returned to Listuguj through a land claim settlement in 2015.

Martin said besides the houses, a new police station will be located on the land, as well as multi-unit buildings.

“Right there now they are working on digging out the foundations for the first few houses and plans are to pave the roads into and out of the subdivision by the middle of summer, we’re hoping for some time in August. The police station is going to be done ahead of schedule. It looks like maybe by the end of July when we were thinking it would be done by the fall.”

Listuguj Hills is across Route 132 at the end of Riverside Drive. 

“It’s going to be three areas in one. We’re going to have new homes and three or four triplexes, as well as a commercial area and an industrial area,” the chief said.

Martin said it’s not the only location for new home development.

“We have one other area where we’re planning to build 10-15 new houses and a second area where we’re looking at 40-50.”

The chief said he isn’t sure of the exact cost of the project that was first discussed four or five years ago, but said it’s in the millions of dollars.

“We had funds set aside for the first part of the project and more funds in each of the next few years to continue building houses. We have 20-30 people working now and that work will continue through to the winter, and hopefully past that once some of the houses are built and work inside can be done when it’s too cold to dig or pour foundations and whatnot.”

Housing in Listuguj, like many areas, is at a premium and with the community continuing to grow, more houses are needed with demand expected to continue to increase.

“This is very important for our community and our growth,” Martin said. “We want our people and our community to continue moving forward and being able to put our people in their own house is one of the main priorities of council.”

Other long term plans for the area include a new band office.