Penticton City Council moved a major rezoning application forward this week.
On Tuesday, council gave all three readings to a zoning amendment bylaw for a 10-acre site at 1704 Government Street that could see up to 1,500 new units built across from the hospital.
The development would include a mix of office and other commercial uses alongside strata and rental housing. There would also be opportunities for hotel and strata hotel uses.
The property is currently home to a warehouse building. It was formerly a manufactured home and trailer operation but served as an emergency shelter this winter.
The property will be from the M1 (General Industrial) and C4 (General Commercial) zones to a custom-made CD9 (Comprehensive Development – 1704 Government Street) zone.
This zone allows for a variety of residential units, retail, office, health services and day care uses, tourist accommodation and resort residential uses as well as public parks.
Steven Collyer, the city’s housing and policy initiatives manager, told council that tourists commercial uses have been limited to less than 50% of total gross floor area use to ensure the majority of the development is for residential uses.
City council supported Official Community Plan amendments for this project in October 2023.
That saw the future land use designation on the site changed from Industrial to Mixed Use with a site-specific policy statement allowing for up to 12 storey buildings.
A density bonus provision would allow the Floor Area Ratio to be nearly doubled to 6.4 FAR, which would allow for portions of the project to reach those 12 storeys, but only if a quarter of the units are secured as affordable housing units.
That could see up to 90 affordable units built in the project.
Council was told that staff worked with the developer to secure a minimum of 2,046 square metres of public park land. Detailed design would be dealt with at the development permit stage.
The CD9 zone includes custom parking requirements with a general goal of having at least one space per dwelling unit, with the exception of smaller studios (0.5 stalls per unit) and flex units (0 stalls) and one-bedrooms (1 stall for strata and 0.5 stalls for rentals).
Visitor parking stalls would be reduced from the typical 0.25 spaces to 0.10 spaces per unit.
“Given the large scale of the proposal it would be built out in several phases over many years,” Collyer said.
“At this early stage the concept may be changed and may be further refined through future approval processes.”
Collyer told council the project will have a significant financial impact on the city and is expected to generate between $13-16 million in Development Cost Charges at full build out, which will go towards off-site infrastructure improvements around the property and across the city.
Additionally, Collyer said the project is anticipated to bring in between $1.1 to $1.8 million in property tax revenue, also at full build out.
Now that the three readings have been given to the rezoning, city staff will begin the process of seeking legal agreements with the developer, Stryke Group, on a series of off-site improvements.
Off-site improvements will include new curbs and gutters, active transportation lanes, transit stops, sidewalks and upgrades to existing mixed-use paths.
Next steps will also see the site subdivided into multiple lots overtime and council reviewing the form and character for the project.
Detailed development and landscaping plans will be required on a phase-by-phase basis as the project builds out, Collyer told council.
