Townhouse, apartment projects moved forward by Kelowna council

A pair of rezoning applications were moved forward by city council on Monday.

A property at 1910 Cross Rd was rezoned from the RU1 – Large Lot Housing zone to the MF2 – Townhouse Housing zone to facilitate a townhouse project.

Design plans for this project were submitted in February 2023 and called for 18 units in five three-storey buildings.

That would include 17 three-bedrooms and one four-bedroom unit.

There is currently one large single family house on the lot.

According to the staff report that was presented to council, there would be 36 parking stalls.

“The subject properties have the Future Land Use Designation of Core Area Neighbourhood and are located at the corner of Cross Rd and Snowsell St. North Glenmore Elementary and Dr. Knox Middle School are within walking distance,” the report said.

The second application was for a large apartment building proposed for 135 Barber Road.

City council gave first reading to the application which seeks to add the rental only subzone onto the UC4 – Rutland Urban Centre zone.

This would restrict any building or bareland stratification of residential housing units, “supporting households seeking rental housing,” the staff report says.

Development plans for this project were submitted in November 2022. The original application called for over 160 units, however, an updated application calls for 144 units.

That would include a mix of studios, one-bedroom units and two-bedrooms units.

According to the staff report, this application received a zoning bylaw text amendment in May 2023 in order to permit ground-floor commercial uses to occupy 0% of the Highway 33 frontage.

After that, the project was redesigned and still does not include any ground-floor commercial space. The application will require a new site-specific text amendment.

There are currently three single-family homes on the three lots, which will need to be consolidated into one lot and the house will need to be demolished.

The developer will be providing 139 vehicle parking stalls, 20 visitor stalls, 109 long-term bicycle stalls and six short-term bicycle stalls.

Next steps will see council give three readings to the rezonings before adopting the bylaw changes. Once that is done, the developer’s would have their development permit applications considered.