Photo: Contributed

Is Kelowna ready for towers over 30 storeys?

That question will be answered soon.

North American Development Group, which has an offer pending on a vacant piece of property at Water Street and Sunset Drive, has amended its original proposal which was slated to go before council in January before the application was pulled at the last minute.

The original proposal called for two-16 storey towers on the north and south sides of the property, with 36 townhouse units fronting Ellis Street.

The redesigned project, which has been presented to city planning staff, would feature a 24 storey north tower on top of a three storey podium, and a 32 storey south tower on top of a three storey podium.

The remainder of the site would be similar to the initial proposal.

The area is zoned for heights of 24 storeys.

In all, 388 units would be included in the two towers, about 100 more than the initial proposal.

Before council is able to tackle the height issue, it would first have to approve a land-use application to rezone the property to allow for a mixed use commercial, residential development.

However, planner Ryan Roycroft, who is overseeing the file, said council does, on occasion, take the opportunity to comment on the overall scope of the project, to send a message of sorts to the developer as to how they may feel once the development permit comes up for discussion.

At 35 storeys, including the podium, the south tower would be, by far, the largest building in the city, dwarfing the 26 storey Waterscape building half a block to the north.

Roycroft expects the rezoning application to be in front of council sometime next month or early June.