It takes a city hall to raise a high-rise

Dear Editor:

As a resident of Kelowna’s Pandosy Village area, I feel compelled to express dismay at the apparent direction of new development in the area.

Most recently a development proposal sign went up on the gravel parking lot and campground adjacent to Gyro Beach. The current OCP developed in conjunction with Kelowna stakeholders in 2011, and valid until 2030, permits a development consisting of low-rise structures of 2 1/2 to six storeys.

The information meeting suggests the developer is seeking a variance on this zoning and will then seek another variance to allow a 16-storey tower, a 12-storey tower, an 11-storey tower, a nine-storey tower, a sixstorey tower, all mounted on a three-storey parking platform.

All this in an area already suffering from traffic congestion and massive parking shortages!

How can a development like this possibly fit into a village environment? Do residents, tourists and other Kelowna visitors to this scenic part of town deserve such a concrete monstrosity?

Our current city hall seems determined to increase density in this part of town at any cost. Recent approvals of other projects exceeding the height restriction outlined by OCP guidelines suggest city hall is willing to ignore the direction agreed upon by all of Kelowna when the OCP was adopted.

Please try to imagine Pandosy filled with towering concrete condo buildings — can this be in anybody’s best interests? Well, maybe the developers!

I beg city hall to listen and stick to the original OCP guidelines. If you love the Gyro Beach area and the quaint Pandosy business area like I do, then please consider making your voice heard! Anita Haney