An ambitious development on what is now the Hiawatha Mobile Home Park has been moved to public hearing.
Kelowna City Council gave initial approval to several zoning and bylaw amendments Monday paving the way for a March 26 public hearing.
The development, put forward by Westcorp Properties, would include 19 buildings ranging in height from 3 1/2 storeys to 11 storeys in what is being described as a mix of residential, tourist commercial and general commercial uses.
Urban Land Use Manager, Danielle Noble, says a text amendment is required to add a new zone, titled CD24 to the zoning bylaw.
"The purpose of this zone is to formalize the comprehensively planned development. All commercial uses will be oriented towards Lakeshore Road with the residential uses or varying densities occupying the balance of the site," says Noble.
"The applicant is proposing a CD zone due to the complexity of the site and the need for comprehensive planning."
The site will include an 11 storey boutique hotel, nine storey apartment/hotel, 2 1/2 storey conference centre, an eight storey mixed use development, eight storey apartment building plus seven residential apartment buildings and seven 3 1/2 storey stacked townhouse buildings.
A two storey parkade structure will also be included.
The current Official Community Plan for the area allows for a maximum building height of six storeys.
"In exchange for both the density and height the applicant is providing restoration of Wilson Creek and construction of a public trail as an amenity. As required by the OCP, the applicant will be securing an area equivalent to 25 metres along the length of Wilson Creek," says Noble.
"The applicant is going above and beyond the OCP requirement by agreeing to build a public trail, landscaping the entire 25 metres of the area and overseeing and maintaining the Wilson Creek corridor as established through a parks agreement."
Councillor Robert Hobson applauded Westcorp's desire to preserve Wilson Creek but at the same time voiced a desire for more details concerning three specific issues at the public hearing.
"I am particularly interested in understanding the consultation process and to what extent they have done that - because I know it has been quite lengthy," says Hobson.
"Secondly, we need to get a full picture on what's happening with relocation of the trailers and the residents. That I think is an obligation the applicant undertook several years ago. We need to get a pretty clear picture on that."
Hobson also wants more details on traffic flow in and out of the development.
"What is the traffic flow, what direction are people likely to be going, how will that relate to the major redevelopment of Manteo across the road," says Hobson.
"Those are two very significant developments on Lakeshore Road and we have to make sure it works properly."
Noble did state the development engineering group has teamed with the Manteo group and says a coordinated intersection improvement will be developed.
She adds the proposal is significant for the city and, in particular, for the areas tourist/commercial node.
Noble also stated Westcorp would speak at the public hearing about the timing of the build-out of the development.
"The intention for the applicant is to pursue the stacked townhomes at this location as their first phase and the boutique hotel would be part of the final stages of the build-out. That would be fed through market demand and other various components," says Noble.
"This is a very ambitious development build-out. There's a lot of density on the site so I can assure you the applicant will speak to market demand at the time of the public hearing presentation."
If you live in the Hiawatha Mobile Home Park contact us about your concerns - send to [email protected]