The newest concept plan for the long-term build out of the Tolko Mill site in Kelowna’s North End got a thumbs up from city councillors this week.
During the Monday afternoon meeting, city councillors applauded the latest design, which hints at early activation of the large vacant 40-acre property by next year.
That’s after some pushback from council in September 2023, including comments from coun. Loyal Wooldridge who dubbed the plan “underwhelming.”
KelownaNow interviewed coun. Wooldridge last fall about the concept plan and he was concerned about the lack of public space.
However, his opinion has done a 180 after seeing the latest concept drawings and site layout.
“This is day and night for me to what we previously saw. I’m excited about a number of aspects,” he said.
“I know that I was quite critical of the last iteration but what I see today is really inspiring. I think it's a great start to the master plan to move into the next few phases.”
Coun. Wooldridge said he liked the idea of a hotel in the area, the “robust effort” to preserve and utilize the heritage and historical buildings and the “innovation” around parking which will avoid five-storey parking podiums.
“The early phases will focus on the waterfront, public plaza spaces, and the center location containing the proposed hotel,” the staff report says.
The first phase, which is expected to happen over the next five years, will include some parking, a hotel and the potential for the start of residential buildings.
From years five to 15 more residential high-rise and parking will be built throughout different areas of the site.
According to the staff report the plan intends to incorporate and adapt as many of the remaining historical buildings as possible while nearly five acres of parkland will be dedicated to the city.
The goal is to create a “walkable, complete community with publicly accessible amenities adjacent to downtown and the lake with a modest amount of commercial services and employment opportunities to complement downtown.”
Mayor Tom Dyas was also impressed with what he saw during the presentation.
“I know this is a maturing process over many, many years but even the difference in between this and the previous one is substantial,” he told staff.
Coun. Mohini Singh, who said she has been going through this development process since the beginning, was happy with what she saw.
“Today gives me a lot more confidence in what we envisioned and what you're proposing,” she said.
“I like this historical context, very important for us, for Kelowna to maintain that. Even little things make a big difference. I look forward to moving this forward.”
Coun. Rick Webber was happy to see the change from the original three concept plans presented last fall, which he said none were appealing.
“This is entirely different to me and I feel like council was heard and I think the public’s been heard,” coun. Webber said.
“The amount of green space, public space away from the water but internal is much better and I think the creativity is great in terms of using the historical buildings and things like that.”
Coun. Stack called the new plan “splendid” and said he liked the labels and placemaking signs throughout the content plan. He also applauded the retention of buildings like the historic shed, gate and other equipment used while the mill was in operation.
“All these great historic items are being incorporated into creating a new vision which will be a draw, much like Granville Island is,” he said.
“The hotel, I think, is really important and the hotel commercial area is key. I think by getting a successful launch of that, it really does give a very firm foothold into the rest of the development going forward.”
Coun. Ron Cannan said the city had a once in a lifetime chance to develop a unique, vibrant, mixed-use area of the community. He said he would like to see an affordability component in the housing once the plan gets to that plan.
The next steps will see the seventh submission brought forward to council. That will include technical reports and a public consultation process that will provide the information needed to create the final plan.
After that, OCP amendments and a rezoning application would follow.