A plan to develop a 66-home subdivision near the corner of Chief Lake Road and Foothills Boulevard won city council's approval on Monday night.
Council members voted unanimously in favour of giving third reading to rezoning 3.4 hectares of land adjacent to Woodvalley Gate and Woodoak Crescent following a public hearing in which a handful of neighbouring homeowners raised concerns.
Comments were related largely to the impact the development would have on traffic volume, pedestrian safety and the population at local schools. Final approval remains subject to completion of a traffic impact analysis and servicing brief.
A covenant will also be imposed limiting the density to 22 units per hectare with half made up of single-detached and half a mixture of two-unit, row and four-plex housing and with 10 per cent of the entire development providing accessible housing features.
The project also remains subject to a series of development permits that will take into account landscaping, placement of the homes and parking. The developer must also set aside land for a park or provide cash-in-lieu, council was told.
Speaking to council, one nearby homeowner said she bought because the site had been zoned greenbelt. However under the official community plan, which sets out the city's longer-range plan for development, it has been considered for urban development since at least 2001 and when the OCP was updated in 2011, it was designated as urban residential.
The site is part of a larger 11-hectare parcel said it's swampland and likely will not be developed, city planning and development general manager Ian Wells told council.
- Council also voted unanimously to give third reading to rezone 14.8 hectares at 7919 Highway 97 South, at Sintich Road, to manufactured home park and one hectare to local commercial.
But it won't take on the look of a traditional mobile home park, council was told.
It will consist of "customized modular structures" built by Okanagan-based Freeport Industries Ltd. and will take on the form and character of a single-family home. The sites will be provided on a land-lease arrangement and the development will be aimed at those looking to settle into retirement and live in a "village atmosphere," Ashley Thandi of L&M Engineering told council.
The homes will be built in two halves in at Freeport's plant in West Kelowna, trucked to Prince George and placed on concrete foundations. From there, their roofs will be assembled at the site as will their covered porches and their site-built garages.
"So at the end of the day, what you essentially get is a patio home look as opposed to a traditional mobile home park where they're blocked above ground and they have a two-foot skirting around the home," Freeport president Todd Venier told council.
The site is currently zoned for agriculture and forestry and is located next door to the Sintich Mobile Home and RV Park.
