Pending final approval by the council, more affordable apartment buildings could be coming to Kelowna soon.
A 6.5-story building with 46 residential units – including 35 three-bedroom apartments – is proposed at 969 Harvey Avenue alongside an existing 64-unit residential building. The website is owned by the Evangel Family Rental Housing Society.
Several deviations are required for the project to continue. The most important of these is the proposed reduction in the minimum off-street parking space from 78 to 52 stalls.
“Staff recommend supporting this deviation as the project is truly an affordable housing project, with the guarantee of rental housing, proximity of the location to the active traffic corridor on Ethel Street and proximity to two urban centers (downtown and Capri / Landmark) . ”Planners wrote.
The property has lower parking requirements due to its mere rental designation, but city officials said a reduction based on the way parking is mandated outside of the urban centers is not enough.
“Prices are based on the number of bedrooms with 3 bedroom units that require 2 booths per unit. The applicant suggests lowering the parking fee to the equivalent parking fee for the city center (1 stand per unit plus required visitor stands). “
If a multi-storey parkade is not being built, the city’s employees indicate that there is no longer any space left on site to expand the parking facilities.
The developer said the excess parking on the existing building – 97 stalls – is expected to be shared between both buildings.
Other proposed deviations include increasing the maximum site coverage from the current 50 percent to 70 percent and a kickback variance.
The Council will review developments at its Tuesday meeting on November 17th.
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Do you have anything to add to this story or anything else we should cover? Email: michael.rodriguez@kelownacapnews.com
@ Michaelrdrguez
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