6 storeys too many for hotel, city says

Staff to ask council to reject proposal

A proposed six-storey hotel is too big for an industrial park across from Kelowna’s airport, city council will hear Monday.

The Sandman Signature development, with more than 200 guest rooms, would be out of keeping with other land uses already approved for the Pier Mac Way area, city staff say.

The hotel proposal runs counter to the “original planning vision” of the airport business park, approved a decade ago, which permitted buildings to a maximum of four storeys in the industrial areas, city staff say.

There are also concerns a sixstorey hotel would generate too much traffic in the area.

However, the developer says there’s a need for an additional hotel near the airport, to go with the six-storey Four Points by Sheraton that already exists at the nearby corner of Airport Way and Highway 97. Last year, council approved a second six-storey hotel near the airport on Innovation Drive.

Measured against other cities, Kelowna has far fewer hotel rooms near its airport on a per-passenger basis, Northland Properties says.

Toronto’s airport area has one hotel room for every 4,600 passengers travelling through Pearson International, and YYC in Calgary has one room for every 3,300 passengers. In Kelowna, the current ratio is one room for every 14,400 passengers, Northland says.

The Sandman Signature would also be used by people visiting UBC Okanagan, the developer says, and the hotel would create 100 jobs.

“We think that providing quality accommodation to facilitate the future growth of (the airport and the university) should be something the city seriously considers,” the company states in its hotel proposal.