A new RCMP detachment will be built in Jasper National Park in 2019 and the project includes two new duplexes to house staff.
The new housing units will be able to accommodate four RCMP members during their postings at the detachment in Jasper.
“We have such a housing problem in Jasper that any additional units is a huge gain,” Christine Nadon, communications manager for the Municipality of Jasper, said Thursday.
The new detachment will replace the current building which has barracks attached to it. The barracks are currently used for temporary staff and storage, with staff renting duplexes in the townsite, she said.
Initially, the detachment project did not include any housing but the community worked with the RCMP to rework the plan, Nadon said.
“Through working with them we finally managed to get them to build two new duplexes, which in our housing inventory in Jasper may not look like a lot, but for us it’s a pretty big deal,” she said.
The new detachment and two separate duplexes will be built on vacant land north of the Sawridge Inn, which is on Connaught Drive on the northern edge of the townsite.
The land is “institutional” and couldn’t be developed privately, so “the fact that Parks Canada accepted that the RCMP would build housing units on there is newsworthy for us,” Nadon said.
Construction is to begin on the first duplex in 2019, with work on the second to begin shortly thereafter.