Photo: Contributed

Penticton city council has approved a development permit for a five-storey, 48 unit apartment building on Rigsby Street.

The property is located between Westminster Avenue West and Wade Avenue West, and currently is home to a warehouse.

The new plan includes 39 EV-ready parking spaces along with secure storage for 21 bicycles and racked bicycle parking for 10 bicycles, and 12 units on each floor with a mix of studios, one and two bedrooms.

A new sidewalk will be constructed in front of the building.

At a meeting Tuesday, council agreed unanimously to support the permit, given the need for density and housing in the city.

Mayor Julius Bloomfield expressed a note of criticism, sharing his concern that the building has no storage for any of the units.

Later in the meeting, Bloomfield put forward a motion to direct staff to look into incorporating storage requirements in municipal development guidelines.

“This year we are going to be doing a lot of work on refining our approval processes for multi-family developments” Bloomfield said.

“I think it's worthy to have a review of the guidelines just to see about adding storage units and adding storage, lockers or units or some kind of storage facility that will really enhance the quality of life for the people living in these buildings.”

But others on council thought that would be too prescriptive. The motion was ultimately defeated 4-3, with Couns. Graham, Watt, Konanz and Gilbert opposed.