New resort attempts to thaw building freeze
rendering here:
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Architect’s conceptual rendering of the Aqua development in the Mission with three towers and a boardwalk.
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Promises to return a coveted section of foreshore to the public realm helped The Mission Group make their first dent in a city-imposed moratorium on new development in the South Pandosy area this week.
Slated for a six-lot space beside Manteo and the Eldorado Hotels, Mission Groupâs plans for âAquaâ include a three-tower residential resort skirted by public beach and boardwalk.
The developer promises to revitalize the foreshore, return it to the city and landscape the property with plazas, parks space and marsh.
The proposal won over the cityâs Advisory Planning Commission Tuesday night. The APC gave the project their seal of approval despite a directive from city council to curtail high-density development in the area.
Last fall, the cityâs planning staff told council the area has nearly reached the maximum capacity under the Official Community Plan, and analysis of how much existing roads, sewers, water systems and so on can withstand is needed before any new projects proceed.
City planners are not to support development variances or rezonings âbeyond four storeys for commercial and residential development,â or âsix storeys for apartment hotelsâ until the OCP review is completed late next yearâplacing Aquaâs proponents squarely in the crosshairs of the cityâs bureaucracy.
âWeâre not asking for more density. The density is the same. Itâs a matter of where you put it,â said Aqua architect Rick Hulbert, of West Vancouverâs The Hulbert Group.
The site is zoned to accommodate the type of residential resort envisioned, but rather than carpet the property in a six-storey block, The Mission Group wants to build three towersâ19, 15 and 17 storeysâin order to make space for more landscaping.
If allowed to proceed, the finished project would culminate in an âanimatedâ park with public access corridors from the beach through the surrounding neighbourhood, connecting the shoreline with the Mission Park Greenway.
âWe want a lot of people (in the area),â said Hulbert, noting shops and retail space encrust a platform of above-ground parking on which the towers sit.
The boardwalk would be six metres wide at the narrowest point and lead into a 150-metre dock limited by the depth of the lake to 60 to 70 slips at the end.
The developers hired fish biologist Darryl Arsenault and are in talks with both the B.C. Ministry of Environment and the cityâs environment division on the shoreline restoration and dock, with plans to use a groyneâa low barricade described as a tool to restore natural balanceâto ensure the area does not have to be dredged annually as it is today.
âThe area is not a fish spawning, fish bearing or fish feeding area,â said Randy Shier, Mission Group partner.
âSo from a fish point of view, itâs not valuable habitat.â
The project is named for its location, with promises to draw on an aquatic colour scheme in the renderings.
âWe believe this particular location is the premier resort site in the city, if not the province,â Shier told the commission on Tuesday, noting itâs rare to have a six-acre site on the water within the city.
Their concept caught the eye of local development proponent Duane Tresnich, who told commissioners he believes âthe area is starting to become rundown.â
âReject the calls of those people who wish to turn the clock back and move Kelowna forward,â said Tresnich, who runs an advocacy group dubbed Move Kelowna Forward.
But Aqua faces more than bureaucratic resistance.
Leading the charge, diamond miner Charles Fipke said heâs concerned about the environmental impact the development would have on the lake and his adjoining property.
âA lot of residents really donât want to see another Waikiki,â said Fipke, who purchased his home in the area two years ago.
Heâs since been offered $1.2 million more than the purchase priceâpresumably by one of three developers currently working within the neighbourhoodâbut said he turned the offer down to protect the areaâs wildlife.
Echoing Fipkeâs concerns was Canadian EarthCare Society president Lloyd Manchester and animal advocate Sinikka Crosland, with The Responsible Animal Care Society (TRACS).
Both of them told the APC that the areaâs wildlife is at stake should the Aqua project be greenlighted.
The two captured the ears of commissioners Janet Digby and John Welder, both of whom voted against the project.
âI donât think the height is the most appropriate thing here,â said Digby.
âI know you talked about curves and thatâs an interesting concept, but that could be anywhere, anywhere in the world,â she said nodding to the architectâs images, which draw on the curve of sailboat spinnakers for inspiration.
Digby didnât buy the environmental benefits trumpeted in the presentation.
âWhatâs really coming back? A little beach access?â she said, adding the dock is ultimately to add a bunch of âstinking boat motorsâ onto the lake.
In an interview following the APC meeting, Shier said he believes what won the majority of commission members over was that they listened to the public before coming forward with the proposal.
Initial designs called for one 30-storey tower, but were reduced after extensive public consultation including three open houses and meetings with special interest groups.
âAs a developer, youâd think you sort of understand all the issues, but when you actually talk to people who live there, they really do have insight that you may not think of,â he said. âIf you look at the Eldorado boat yard, thereâs not a stitch of green.
âThereâs oil tanks, thereâs gravelâitâs boats.
âWeâre reclaiming that. It will almost feel like a park-like setting.â
Aqua has yet to make it to city council, the body with the authority to approve or deny the developerâs application.
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