Re: City staff trying to lessen development impacts on Kelowna heritage area (Castanet, Feb 6, 2024)
Bev Kalmakoff, a member of the Kelowna South Central Association of Neighbourhoods and chair of the Kelowna Tree Protectors, commented to local media that infill projects must be done sensibly in heritage areas, with good setbacks, protection of mature trees and consideration of the area's character.
"It needs to be done with some thought, it needs to be done with thinking about what this place looks like now and how much of the character that we have now that we can preserve. If you lose it, you never get it back,” she said.
In recognition of B.C. Heritage Week 2024, on Feb. 25 the Kelowna Tree Protectors will sponsor Big Tree Care, with Anton Artuso of Microbe Tree Service (Benvoulin Church, 2279 Benvoulin Road, 2:00 pm).
Artuso is a qualified and experienced arborist with expertise in working with big trees in Australia, Ontario and British Columbia.
Many people have mature trees in their yards and might wonder about the care they need. The event is free.
But, in non-heritage areas of cities, what about the following as a solution to B.C.’s new infill housing zoning requirements?
Habitat 67 is a 12-storey, 354-cube residential housing complex that was designed by architect Moshe Safdie for the Expo 67 World’s Fair in Montreal.
As of 2019, there are 148 units in the complex. A one-cube unit is just over 600 square-feet, but some condos are made up of three or four cubes. Each cube has a private outdoor balcony of more than 200 square-feet and most are located on the roof of another unit – a nod to Safdie’s motto, "for everyone a garden."
Just mass produce thousands upon thousands of pre-fab Habitat 67s and rebrand each one a “B.C.-Eby Habitaty".
David Buckna, Kelowna