Concept plans for residential redevelopment at the site of St. Joseph's school were approved at City Council last night.

Unanimous approval was given for the plans which, after multiple public feedback sessions, would see a proposed 34 units built. The possibility for an expansion up to 37 housing units also exists for development in the 2.02 hectare area.

Michael Ruus, Manager of Development Services with the City of Swift Current, explains developers have expressed interest in bringing the project to fruition.

"Through the entire process, we've heard from a number of different people who've expressed some interest in the site so I wouldn't be surprised if we saw something moving forward in the next year or two but as was mentioned by our consulting team tonight, these plans are always considered to be living documents so we're excited to try and work with whomever wants to move forward on this site," he said.

With the current concept, the site would be rezoned to R3, which is classified as high-density residential housing. However, with the site limit set at 37 units, Ruus explains the proposal of additional units or any other changes deemed 'major' would need to be approved.

"This is the most important part - it would be part of a contract agreement with the developer to be forced to comply with the current concept plan, and if they wanted to vary or deviate from this plan then they would be required to re-engage the same members of the public that was good enough to participate in this process for approximately the last year," he said.

The Manager of Development Services expands on his thanks for the feedback from the public, in what has been deemed the city's 'most robust public engagement process to date'.

"The intent of the requirements that we brought in were to safeguard our neighbourhood's interest and give our residents an opportunity to participate in the design of future infill sites or vacant sites in the city. I think the process that we've gone through to date has really shown that it has the potential to work if everyone is willing to come out and help us help them," he said.

A common theme proposed in feedback sessions was the element of affordability, which Ruus explains was to make sure the housing product is affordable for a first-time home-buyer, or a new family.

Ruus says they love seeing new development in the community and are excited to see what's going to happen with the project, so as for their wishes for development on the former St. Joseph's school site: "The sooner the better".

In-depth information on the concept plans for the project will be linked once made available on the City of Swift Current's website.