A developer’s plan to nearly double the height of a downtown high-rise runs counter to the terms of a deal agreed-to by the City of Kelowna, a community group says.
The Kelowna Legacy Group wants council to reject a proposal to increase the height of a tower on the old RCMP detachment site from 13 to 25 storeys, and to invite new building proposals from other developers.
“We believe the average citizen would look at this situation and feel something is just not right,” the group said in a Tuesday release.
But city officials say the development company is within its rights to request permission for a taller tower at 350 Doyle Ave, and the issue of a height increase will be decided by a future vote of city councillors.
“The developer has submitted something they think is better and different,” top city planner Ryan Smith said in an interview, adding his department is still reviewing the revised plans.
“This will eventually go back to council and council can decide, do they support the design at a larger height and do they want to amend the contractual obligations after they hear the developer’s arguments for a higher height,” Smith said.
“Council may say to planning and to the city’s real estate team, ‘This isn’t acceptable. We want what was in that plan.’ That’s a risk the developer is taking,” Smith said.
A taller building with better views of Okanagan Lake would command higher rents for its suites, making the project more lucrative for the developer while not affecting the terms of the long-term lease the company signed with the city, the Kelowna Legacy Group claims.
“The new design provides unobstructed, luxury views from an additional 12 floors from this city-owned property just steps from Okanagan Lake,” the group’s release states.
Rather than approve the request for a taller building, the city should cancel the agreement with the developer and issue another request for proposals, the group says. “Certainly, there are many developers in town who would like to look at this option now that the rules have changed,” the release states.
The city invited developers to submit proposals for the municipally-owned property in 2019. After evaluating the submissions, which included aspects like how much developers would be willing to pay for a long-term lease of the property, the city chose one advanced by RISE Commercial Developments in 2020.
The site developers, now known as Wexford Development and Appelt Properties, have now submitted the revised design proposal, increasing the height of the tower from 13 to 25 storeys. But the total number of rental suites would be less, 259 compared to 316 shown in the earlier design.
“Working with guidance from the city, we have replaced the original form with a taller, more slender, and vertical tower design,” the developers stated in the revised application. “The taller, slimmer design is …….
Source: https://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/news/article_70a8d9a0-e115-11ec-a5b5-77016e89407a.html