West Kelowna’s tallest building could look out over Lakeview Heights

WEST KELOWNA – It’s only ten storeys, but should it pass muster with West Kelowna council, it could easily be the city’s tallest building. Just don’t call it a high-rise.

“We don’t have a high-rise zoning,” communications manager Kirsten Jones said.

Call it what you will, but in a sign that tall-building fever may be spreading from Kelowna, council on this side of the lake gave second reading Tuesday, Feb. 27, to a mixed-use multi-family redevelopment proposal on Ollala Road at Anders Road beside the Lakeview Village.

Should it reach final build-out, the project would include approximately 300 units on five acres in four buildings, ranging in height from two- to six-storeys, according to a report to council from planner Darin Schaal.

However, the project will have a covenant attached to it requiring the developer TCD Developments to provide land and $2.5 million towards construction of a new city-owned fire hall within five years. Cost estimate for a new fire hall is $5 million.

Included in the bylaw amendment is the potential redevelopment of West Kelowna Fire Rescue’s Hall 32 and the land it sits on, owned by the City of West Kelowna.

Should those conditions be met and density goals attained, the developer would be allowed to add four storey’s height to the tallest of the buildings, taking it to 37.5 metres from 22.5 metres. By comparison, the Westcorp hotel and condominium project approved last week in Kelowna will be 131 metres tall.

The project covers five properties including the old Lakeview Elementary school site and needs rezoning to proceed. Council’s approval on Tuesday sends the project to a public hearing at an upcoming council meeting.

Plans for a major redevelopment were first submitted in 2009, Schaal notes in his report, which included up to 550 units and a substantial commercial component, along with a 14-storey bell tower. However the applicant pulled the proposal in 2011.

Jones said the city is considering another tall building application, the ambitious Blackmun Bay Village in Casa Loma.

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