Council to decide on waterfront visitor centre

Kelowna City Council will decide Monday whether or not rezone a downtown, lakefront property to allow Tourism Kelowna to build a new visitor information centre.

The property, located at 238 Queensway, is currently a small parking lot which is slated to close thanks to a new hotel that will eventually be built nearby.

In order for Tourism Kelowna to build a new visitor information centre at the location the parking lot will have to be rezoned from a “parks and open space” designation to a “major institutional” designation.

The location is attractive for Tourism Kelowna because it’s close to many downtown attractions, hotels, and transportation options, and lots of people walk by.

The organization is trying to adapt to accommodate large volumes of visitors and pedestrian walk-by traffic “to better showcase the downtown and the area's offerings.”

Tourism Kelowna will lease the land from the city, and, should council approve the rezoning application, the property outside of the lease area will be “redeveloped” by the city into “high quality urban pedestrian space.”

The building Tourism Kelowna hopes to put on the lot will be 307 square metres on a single level, plus a mezzanine. It will have public washrooms open during its business hours.

The organization's corporate offices won’t be part of the building, and no parking will be provided on the site. To compensate for this fact, Tourism Kelowna will have to pay the city $180,000.

City staff are O.K. with the arrangement primarily because the area is a “pedestrian centric location” that’s not meant to have any vehicles.

As part of the lease agreement between the City of Kelowna and Tourism Kelowna, the City of Kelowna will proposed to be responsible for the water and sanitary service upgrades to the lot, and Tourism Kelowna will be responsible for the storm service upgrades, shallow utilities, and improvements to the Queensway Ave frontage.

Should council approve the rezoning, they will still have to decide whether or not to approve variances for the look and character of the building. That decision would be made a later date.