Lake Country developer looking for support for townhouse project

A developer in Lake Country hopes to begin a dialogue with residents concerning the type of development he is proposing within the municipality.

Stephen Duke is seeking to rezone a plot of land on Bond Road near Davidson Road elementary school but has run into local opposition.

“I want to create awareness because I feel on balance, there are some rational people in Lake Country and if more people come to the open house there will maybe be a higher quality of dialogue,” said Duke recently.

“It’s a dialogue worth having…where to put housing for families.

“Compared to Kelowna and Vernon, Lake Country has more housing for single families and very few other types of housing like apartments, condos or townhomes.”

Duke is in the early stages of his townhome project as he seeks to rezone the property to RM4, low density multiple housing. While preliminary, conceptual drawings have been done, final drawings and the exact scope of the project have yet to be done.

“We have no design yet. It could take a couple of years so I have no idea what the market is going to be doing, I have no idea where prices are going to go.”

Yet, he says, opposition was swift.

“Jodie and the group opposed went straight to low-income housing, which didn’t come from me,” he said.

“People are opposed to it in general because they don’t have any information yet.”

He hopes an open house set for Thursday, Dec. 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Winfield Hall will attract not only those opposed, but other members of the public.

Meantime those opposed are many.

Jodie Morrison has been the most vocal, going door-to-door to inform residents of the proposed development.

She has a petition with 122 signatures while neighbours have a petition with 60 more.

“It doesn’t seem to fit in Lake Country’s Official Community Plan,” Morrison told Castanet News.

“People are concerned about traffic, congestion. The lot is too small for that type of development.

“It’s very dangerous for the children because congestion is going to be crazy.”

Morrison says residents are not opposed to this type of project, just not on Bond Road.

“On Chase Road there are huge acreages for sale where they could maybe put triple the amount of housing and give the kids green space to play in rather than sticking them on a corner lot with no play space but the roads.”

She also rejects the notion that a development like this is ideal for an area next to an elementary school, arguing schools in the area are already near or at capacity.

As for specific concerns, Duke says he has already commissioned several studies on traffic impacts, transportation as well as geo-technical and environmental studies.

Links to those will be available at the open house.

“They say they have done all these reports on traffic, water and environment but we the taxpayers are going to be paying for this and we know it,” said Morrison.

“I think the developers need to step up and pay more.

“There’s no crosswalks, no street lamps. It’s just in the wrong area.”