10-acre, 1,500 unit redevelopment on Government Street gets Penticton council's support

Penticton City Council approved a Official Community Plan amendment that will see a 10-acre site across from the hospital transformed into a large residential development.

Stryke Group has tentatively named the development the“Penticton Health and Innovation District” which will see upwards to 1,500 residential homes constructed at 1704 Government Street.

The developer’s initial design plans show that there will also be office space in eleven buildings that will range from six to 12 storeys in height.

“It is clear from the city’s 2023 Housing Needs Assessment that more housing is needed, and we are happy to be able to do our part,” says Stryke’s managing director Rocky Sethi in a release.

“The full project build- out will take more than ten years, and we are looking to get started as quickly as possible.”

However, council has only given the very preliminary approvals, there is still the issue of rezoning the property, council consideration of development permits and building permits.

Councillor Campbell Watt expressed concern about the loss of industrial land and said he wasn’t supportive of putting housing anywhere in the city just because Penticton needs housing.

“I know that our housing needs assessment is something we refer (to) but I think, in this particular case, the biggest concern I have is the loss of industrial land,” said coun. Watt.

However, coun. Watt said housing needs outweighed that loss.

“This property, I believe, makes total sense. Regardless of where we build, parking and traffic are going to be an issue. (But) condensing it like this, I think parking is adequate here and (being) in a walkable area like this addresses that,” said coun. Watt, adding the location would support alternative modes of transportation in Penticton.

Councillor Helena Konanz said she was having a difficult time with this project and echoed Watt’s concerns about the loss of industrial land, and ultimately, a loss of jobs.

However, she encouraged her colleagues to look at the bigger need for housing across the city.

“I do want to say one of the reasons of why we are in this predicament, we as councils in the past, we have not been brave enough to face communities, neighbourhoods when people come forward with developments,” coun. Konanz.

“We need to be brave in the next three years, so when we have developments come forward and they’re in neighbourhoods that are going to change neighbourhoods for the better … we need to support them.”

Mayor Julius Bloomfield thought it was important for the city to take a look at how it could further protect existing or future industrial lands.

“I understand the importance of industrial land and the reason why it's there. It's there to create wealth in the community, it's there to create jobs in the community,” Bloomfield said.

“I think what we’ve done to date is that we’ve had a very poor record of managing the industrial land that we have. We have businesses in the industrial area that do not employ a lot of people. We have facilities that employ maybe one person for every five acres.”

Bloomfield said the city was not getting full use out of the existing industrial lands and that needed to be reexamined.

Stryke Group estimates that their development will introduce upwards to 300 jobs in their commercial units once full buildout is completed in the next decade.