West Kelowna council has greenlit the rezoning of a major housing project at Upper Glenrosa and Salmon roads, a development that has been in the works since 2014.
The project, which includes 92 single-family homes and 26 multi-family townhomes, is proposed for lands outside the city’s designated growth boundary.
“There are some fairly significant commitments that the applicant was required to make to move forward with the development,” Director of Development Approvals, Brent Magnan, told council at its May 14 meeting.
Among the commitments are improvements to Glenrosa Rd., as well as financial contributions to Stonegate Park, and a future water reservoir for the area.
Councillor Tasha Da Silva highlighted the potential density increase under new provincial housing legislation.
“We’re looking at 92 single-family dwellings that will have the ability to have 92 secondary suites as well as 92 carriage homes,” Da Silva said.
With the development outside the growth boundary and water service area and the recent approval of two other developments nearby, Da Silva expressed worry about infrastructure strain.
“I don’t want to see us outpace what our infrastructure can handle with what we’re allowing to be built in Glenrosa,” she added.
Magnan said the recently improved and expanded Powers Creek reservoir would provide service to the development.
However, there is no long-term plan at this time to build a reservoir to service the development, he noted.
Da Silva said she wasn’t convinced it was enough to service what council is allowing to happen.
Coun. Carol Zannon echoed concerns about water service adequacy and the potential number of units.
Coun. Jason Friesen said the question before council was not whether the development could be serviced, but whether is council comfortable with the zoning.
“I’m okay with the zoning and I trust that our teams and engineering will deal with any water concerns, they’ve already reviewed it and said it’s okay,” Friesen said.
Council voted to approve the rezoning, with Zannon and Da Silva opposed.
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