Photo: District of Peachland

Site of future Peachland child care centre.

Variances needed to proceed with construction new $12-million child-care centre were granted by Peachland council on Tuesday, but some concerns were raised about a reduction in parking spaces.

The variances reduced building setbacks and parking-space requirements.

Only 12 parking stalls will be built, instead of the required 33. Stalls for loading will be reduced from two to zero.

The school district, which operates nearby Peachland elementary, expressed mild doubts about the parking changes in a letter.

“We believe these concerns are mitigated with the construction of Wild Goose Street, increasing on-street parking capacity,” said Jared Kassel, planning and development manager. Kassel estimated 20 on-street spaces will be available on the new road.

Staff will use some of the 12 on-site spaces, but won’t need them all, he said.

The centre will have room for 104 children. It will be run by BGC Okanagan (formerly the Boys and Girls Club). Funding for construction is provided by the province. Construction is expected to get rolling this summer.

Also on Tuesday, council gave final approval to moving its Tuesday meetings to 3 p.m. from the old start time of 6 p.m.

Coun. Terry Condon was the lone council member opposing the new time: “What disappoints me about the way that this has come before us is that I don’t see any kind of public consultation,” he said. “This seems to be with a minimum level of cost-benefit analysis for the convenience of council, and yet the people that are potentially most affected are our residents and the people we are supposed to serve — and yet we haven’t asked their opinion about this.”

No other comments were made.