Kelowna developer takes on Shorelines project

Culos Development Group is proposing to build 120 units of housing on the prime waterfront land in Nelson

A piece of Nelson waterfront land that has seen more proposals than an episode of The Bachelor is currently entertaining another.

Culos Development is planning to build approximately 120 housing units – on the land beside Chahko Mika Mall that was once slated for Kutenai Landing – in a development called Shorelines.

The proposed development – which includes units ranging from $350,000 to over $1 million – will also include some commercial space on the ground floor, also includes a 60-slip marina, with half of the slips reserved for non-motorized boats.

Mike Culos of Culos Development Group from Kelowna gave city council the first public glimpse of the project Tuesday night during the committee-ofthe-whole meeting, and laid out the initial sketch of what could be manifesting on the largest undeveloped waterfront property in the city.

The significance of the untapped Nelson shoreline soil became apparent as news of the project seeped out, said Culos.

“It wasn’t very long since we hung our signs on the fence down there when my phone started ringing off the hook,” he said. “And people were finding me from in town, out of town and out of province to find out what was going on.

“And it became very clear very quickly that this is a very unique piece of property. This is a very unique piece of property in the city of Nelson, for the city of Nelson, and it’s probably a start again of the refreshing of the waterfront element down there.”

Culos said there has been an awful lot of care, attention and passion put into the project to-date, and the city’s planning staff has been instrumental in shaping it so far.

“We are certainly open to criticism and flexibility on things as we go, but we think we have encompassed the community in all aspects, from families, to empty-nesters, to weekenders, to seniors,” said Culos.

Council did serve up some initial questions for Culos on the parking allotments for the project, as well as some of the broad strokes on the marina.

However, the project is zoned for a marina at this time, noted city manager Kevin Cormack, and would require a certain amount of parking according to how many slips were ultimately approved for the marina.

“They are trying to meet our current regulations, so if council wants to relax some of those (parking spots), certainly we can look at that,” he said.

The marina aspect of the project would be advanced “fairly quickly,” said Culos. It will take almost two years to get all of the provincial approvals, and then a window to construct it would be granted.

“So it would probably be there within three years, I would think,” he said. “We think this whole project would be a fouryear project for us to do that.”

Although the proposed project meets every condition laid out for a parcel of land in a Development Permit Area 2 (downtown and waterfront) area, the development permit application from Culos is still under review by city staff.

Phase one of the project includes the construction of 24 townhouse units – around 2,700 square feet – four garden home suites (2,250 sq. ft.) and 28 dwelling units.

The second phase of the project entails the development of a condominium site, with permitting expected by December of this year.