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Summerland residents will get a chance to voice their opinion on a resort condo development proposed for the old cannery property in Lower Town.
The Lakeshore Drive development — anchored by two six-storey residential terraced towers featuring swimming pools on the patio of each unit — was granted second reading and forwarded to a public hearing by council Monday.
Developer Fritz Boekel came before council with renderings, as requested, showing off how the development will impact the “skyline” of Lakeshore Drive.
“We didn’t want to have it very dense… we just don’t believe in big massive blocks of housing and believe in open spaces,” Boekel said. “The design, stepping it back, I think compliments the slope behind it. Overall I think it is a winner, but it still has to be sold.”
Councillors seemed impressed, with Doug Holmes applauding the developer's efforts to keep Lakeshore Drive from “becoming a canyon” with tall buildings on one side of the street and silt banks on the other.
“I like it,” said Coun. Doug Patan.“I think that this will add a level of excitement in our Lower Town.”
Boekel said the 24-units units in the terraced buildings will be between 1,650 and 1,800 sq. feet, with penthouses of 2,500 sq. feet. The salt-water infinity pools on each balcony are about six-metres long, 2.5-metres wide, one metre deep and constructed out of fibreglass within a concrete shell.
The developer assured councillors they will not take off after building the two residential towers and will build the separate building on Lakeshore Drive — consisting of 11-units of ground floor commercial and eight “resort condos” above — in the same phase.
The resort condos were described as basic 900 sq. foot units that a person would purchase to rent out on a nightly, monthly or annual basis with particular focus on tourists.
“We are not going to build the residential towers if the commercial stores are not part of it,” Boekel said.
Coun. Marty Van Alphen said he was happy to see the developer’s “willingness to clean up the other side of the street, the commercial units will hopefully be full and attract people to our Lower Town.”
“I’m grateful to see this proposal and would like to see us go forward with this,” he added.
Council heard that there is no dock or water amenity aspect to the project and the immediate lakeshore would be restored to a natural riparian area below a public walkway.
Council voted unanimously to send the proposal to a public hearing, which will be scheduled as a separate stand-alone event within one month’s time.
