The plan was to move into their new commercial kitchen, unpack their equipment, and open their organic, vegan restaurant and catering business in a new location.
Instead, they were told to pack up and leave within an hour of moving into the room.
Edward Malone, owner of True Flavors Inc., said it was a whole spectrum of emotions within an hour.
Originally, True Flavors was operated three days a week in a commercial kitchen on the Mission. Due to the pandemic, he said he wanted to provide healthy and sustainable options for people, as well as an incentive to stay at home, by running online cooking classes and opening an “online restaurant” where people can deliver their groceries and set them up at home can .
But the demand for service and food was high and just working three days a week was not enough. So Malone and his fiancée decided to look for a new place.
“We’d struggled for months to raise money and find a place that would suit us, that would give us the opportunity to produce food and serve the Okanagan community,” Malone said.
“We met the biggest landlords of all … and they went out of their way to make sure we transitioned well into the new space.”
On Monday November 2nd, the day he was supposed to get his operating permit, his application was denied because the new location is in the A1 zone. Only an agrotourism company or a domestic company can operate under the A1 zoning, not a commercial one like True Flavors.
Malone said city officials told him he either had to find a new location or apply for a reallocation, which could be a long process. The property True Flavors is trying to secure is not in the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), which means he can apply for city redesignation.
Wesley Miles, a planning specialist for the city of Kelowna, said the process will take between four and eight months.
“Requests for zoning must also go to the council and the public hearing. The staff will also prepare an analytical report for the council, but ultimately it is up to the council to decide, ”he said.
“In general, much of our agricultural policy is aimed at protecting agricultural land, so it is unlikely that its application will be supported unless exceptional circumstances exist.”
The news was devastating to the couple, who had sold as much of their belongings as possible in an attempt to boost business.
“I sold everything I own that was worth money and made some generous donations to help keep this site safe, but now I am unable to operate due to a zoning problem,” he said.
They had planned to open in their new location on November 16, but now Malone and his fiancée aren’t sure what their next steps will be.
READ: BC Seniors Suffer From Isolation, Depression In COVID-19
Twila Amato
Video journalist, Black Press Okanagan
City of Kelowna
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