By John MoorhouseTuesday, January 30, 2007 http://www.pentictonherald.ca/article_2935.php
Fresh after approving a trio of high-rise towers on South Main Street, Penticton city council is now looking for public input into high density housing within the official community plan.An open house will be held Wednesday from 3 to 8 p.m. at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre, seeking comments on the height, location and character of highrises as the city plans for future growth within the community.The review will not include plans for future development in the "South Gateway" area along South Main and Lakeside Road. Maps for this area have been dropped from the review, just two weeks after council approved rezoning for the proposed Penticton Waterside Resort and Spa.Coun.
Garry Litke, chairman of the community plan review task force, said Monday the future height and density of the city is a hot topic these days, especially following the intense community debate over the height of the resort's three towers which will now be limited to 35 metres (115 feet).Although the community plan currently allows for a maximum building height of 45 metres (150 feet), Litke said that limit could be changed if there is a strong public demand. He noted many people believe it's important for Penticton to maintain its small town charm."We might be at a bit of a crossroads here with big development pressure," he said. "We've been discovered, so we have to decide right now what we're going to do."Are we going to allow the development pressure to take over and become another strip mall city, or are we going to try to maintain some of our character?"
Mayor Jake Kimberley said planning for higher density development will be one of the most important issues in the community as it strives to deal with future growth. The city anticipates demand for about 4,000 new residential units in the next 10 years."Once the review process is completed and the OCP amended, the areas for high density development will be written in stone and that will provide certainty for residents and developers," the mayor stated in a news release.However, Litke wondered what "written in stone" really means. He noted the previous community plan did not adequately respond to the city's population growth and therefore needed amending.
One of the main recommendations from the task force is the creation of "village nodes" along the Main Street-Skaha Lake Road corridor. Each node would include a variety of higher density development within a five-minute walk of their central commercial area. Taller buildings would be located in the core with heights decreasing toward surrounding residential neighbourhoods.These urban villages are proposed for near the three main malls/shopping centres, as well as downtown and the "north gateway" between Eckhardt and Westminster avenues near the South Okanagan Event Centre site.
The OCP review has been underway since the mayor announced the creation of the task force in December 2005. In the meantime, applications for high density developments continued to be accepted by the city.In addition to the recent approval of the Waterside Resort, council last year gave rezoning approval for the Alysen Place development at Skaha Lake Road and Guelph Avenue, which include a trio of seven and eight-storey buildings. An application is now expected to come before council next month to increase the height of one of the Alysen Place towers to 12 storeys.Feedback from Wednesday's open house will be reviewed by the task force. It will also hold a special "round table" workshop for invited guests on Feb. 7 at the Trade and Convention Centre to gain additional input.
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