Kelowna mayor Tom Dyas wants staff to prepare a review of the city’s policies governing micro-suites and podium designs.
During the last meeting of 2024, Dyas said he would be bringing forward a motion to have staff prepare a review of those two topics, which will likely be done in a workshop-type meeting.
“As we know, with our Official Community Plan (OCP), we’re looking at things like parking, which is underway, we’ll also look at micro-suites and podium designs,” Dyas said.
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Dyas said an entire review or redo of the OCP could cost upwards to a half a million dollars so he will be proposing that council workshop some pieces of the OCP that deal with micro-suites and building podiums.
In recent meetings, some councillors have indicated their distaste for developers proposing too many micro-suites and for the designs of some podiums in the city.
During a council meeting last month, which saw a 40-storey rental building approved, one city councillor had issues with the amount of micro-suites proposed.
In that meeting, city staff explained to councillors that development cost charges aren’t applied to micro-suites.
Another councillor had concerns with the height of the parkade, saying council needed to avoid “another Leon Avenue type of podium.”
Dyas’ motion is expected to be brought forward at the Jan. 13 meeting.
