Carriage rides made easy
Photo: Contributed
The Kelowna City Planning Department is keeping its promise to provide more housing within the city center.
The first part of a work plan presented in spring is the deregulation of sheds within the city center.
Planner Terry Barton says the urban core is an area that encompasses downtown and extends to South Pandosy, the Midtown / Highway 97 Corridor, and Rutland.
The deregulation would only apply to RU1 (large plots) and RU2 (medium plots) with an existing sewage connection.
That would cover more than 5,600 properties across the city.
The change means that applications for RU1 and RU2 plots within these areas would be made without additional zoning applications and without the consent of the council.
“Outside of this zone, we recommend that the normal rules continue to apply,” Barton told the city council.
“Carriages could still be sought beyond this limit, but this would have to be brought out with a public hearing and statutes. These would have to be proven in each individual case.”
Barton says that carriage houses in these zones are rarely turned down or turned down by staff.
Since the city began tracking carriage houses in 2002, 506 have been built within the city, averaging about 25 per year, according to Barton.
