High-rise developments aided by Kelowna mayor

Re: “City hall leaves taxpayers on the hook,” by Richard Drinnan (Courier letters, Jan. 20.)

Richard Drinnan was right on. Below is a Mayor Colin Basran and council decision on Jan. 19 that adds truth to Drinnan’s statement that Kelowna council and staff (i.e. planners) are skirting policies and zoning bylaws intended to guide development.

The Health District Zone — Health Services Transitional (17.3) had a text amendment presented by the planning department which will allow a developer (who lives in another province) to build a 40unit apartment. This is not a friendly text amendment, but a major zoning change.

Apparently, mayor and council had no questions about this amendment, and so this major development can occur in the heritage conservation area which is the transition between the huge hospital and the current single residential homes on Royal Avenue.

History for the Health Services Transitional Zone revised Nov. 3, 2014, after being developed by neighbours, planners, KSAN and FRACHAS to include supportive and low-impact health services.

Building design should reflect the scale and context of nearby residential areas as established in the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation Areas development guidelines.

All the work and eventual consensus that we got to develop the HD3 - Health Services Transitional Zone (and recently 2014) is gone without a word from mayor and council. We, the public, were not given an opportunity to defend our reason for the HD3 Transitional Zone (to keep our neighbourhood liveable).

Not only are high-rise developments being aided by mayor and council, but also apartments in neighbourhoods where they should not be built. Let the public remember this when we vote for the next council.