Tower too tall for Lakeview Heights, neighbours say

10-storey building containing 260 homes, 140 care units proposed for Olalla, Anders

Directors of the Lakeview Heights Community Association are opposed to plans for West Kelowna’s tallest building to be built in their neighbourhood.

The 10-storey tower is an inappropriate land use for the West Kelowna neighbourhood, directors say, and they’re also concerned about a plan to see the developer give $2 million toward construction of a new Àre hall.

“We supported the Àrst plan for this project, which would have seen a six-storey building, because we recognize there’s a need for additional housing, and the project was pleasing to look at and well thought out,” Stan Dosman of the LCHA said Wednesday.

“We are generally pro-development, but now the revised plans, with a 10-storey building, it’s just too much for Lakeview Heights, which is a semi-rural area,” Dosman said. “It’ll change our community forever.”

The developer will host an information meeting from 4 to 8 p.m. May 15 at the Lakeview Heights Community Hall on Anders Road.

“We just want to encourage as many people as possible to come out and say what they think of this plan,” Dosman said. “If it turns out most people are actually in favour of it, that’s Àne, but we want people to know this is their chance to have a say.”

West Kelowna city council has given Àrst reading to the project, which would see a total of 260 homes and 140 seniors care units built at the southeast corner of Olalla Road and Anders Road. The municipality will hold a formal public hearing at later date.

Tentative plans would see the developer pay $2 million, above normal development cost charges, to the city for construction of a new Lakeview Heights Àre hall at the property.

The commitment has been made in exchange for the municipality allowing the projected residential density, and is portrayed by city council members as a good deal for taxpayers in that it saves public funds.

But Dosman said the deal is being proposed “on the backs of Lakeview Heights residents,” most of whom he said don’t want to see a 10storey tower in their neighbourhood.

The municipality should Ànance the new Àre hall in the traditional ways of using reserves, borrowing the money or using tax dollars, he said.

When they agreed in early March to move the proposed development along the approval process, city council members acknowledged it would likely be controversial among area residents.

“It’d be nice if our Àrst 10-storey building wasn’t in Lakeview Heights, but the fact of the matter is this is where people want to build it and this is where people want to live,” Coun. Duane Ophus said at the time.

But Coun. Rick De Jong said he didn’t think a 10-storey building in Lakeview Heights was in the best interests of the community, despite the developer’s $2-million contribution toward a new Àre hall.