Kelowna council will be asked to weigh in on massive McKinley Beach proposal

Photo: Placemark Design

A massive development proposal outside the permanent growth boundary in McKinley Beach will get early consideration from city council.

The early consideration provision is a tool staff have implemented for projects that do not meet established policies and objectives of “relevant bylaws.”

It is designed to give council a chance to weigh in early in the process before the applicant has spent considerable sums on design work and studies and before staff dedicate time and resources to evaluating the application.

The application before council is to amend the Official Community Plan for an expanded hillside development for approximately 2,000 new homes as well as a mixed-use urban village in the McKinley Beach neighbourhood.

A previous development in the area was denied by council three years ago.

Staff indicate a number of issues with the proposal, including its proximity outside the permanent growth boundary, an area not signalled for future growth.

“Preliminary analysis indicates few, if any insurmountable utility infrastructure challenges, but anticipates that the area will continue to be one of the most expensive areas for the applicant and the city to service,” a report for council indicates.

“Transportation is expected to be challenging for this area, much like it is for the Upper Mission which represents a similar scale to the proposed development.”

Staff says it utilized the Model City Infrastructure tool to look at long-term asset management and address the city’s infrastructure deficit.

“This analysis found that even with higher density options, further development in McKinley would perform similar to other comparable hillside neighbourhoods with less revenue than needed for long-term infrastructure costs.”

The report goes on to say many factors go in to determine the financial health of new development.

“However, the preliminary results indicate that targeting this area for future growth would likely hinder the city’s objective of addressing our infrastructure deficit and potentially contribute to a redirection of resources from other areas.”

The developers of the proposed project, North American Development Group and G Group counter that the OCP did not anticipate “additional housing needs beyond its population estimates,” and that there is a land-use “misalignment” in the area including McKinley and employment centres in the Gateway area.

They believe the city is well positioned to accommodate faster than anticipated growth , especially with the implementation of provincial legislation to encourage housing development.

They also say new growth areas may be required beyond the 2040 Official Community Plan.