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Kamloops  

City will further consider potential Tranquille Road apartment project with less parking than zoning allows

Unique project to next step

A proposed affordable rental residential building is one step closer to construction after city council voted to consider the variances required for the development to move forward.

In a council meeting last week, city staff recommended council deny the development variances — and the development permit — required for the 40-unit building, which is proposed for 501 Tranquille Rd.

Marvin Kwiatkowski, the city’s director for development, engineering and sustainability, said the development proposal only allows for 16 parking spaces — a 61-per-cent reduction in the number of parking spots required by the city’s zoning bylaw.

“We see that as adversely impacting the adjacent commercial businesses. We also see potential concerns with visitor parking spilling over into the nearby residential neighbourhoods,” Kiwatkowski said.

“That’s the approval of a large parking variance, which may set a precedent for other developments for single parking reductions, which would have a significant impact.”

However, after some discussion and a split vote, city council ultimately voted in favour of sending a notice of intent to neighbours, saying they are considering the development variances, and subject to the variance permit being issued, providing the development permit itself.

Coun. Kathy Sinclair told council she would be voting in favour of considering the development variances.

“Here at the city, we promote a car-light community, we promote active transportation. And here's the perfect opportunity to put that into practice,” she said.

“I think that parking is expensive, it adds to the cost of rentals, and not everybody needs it. And so, again, while I respect that staff is doing your job here and adhering to our requirements, to me, not seizing this opportunity is prioritizing parking over housing.”

According to a staff report, the proposed development will include 35 affordable rental units and five social housing units.

The five social housing units may be occupied by youth graduating out of ministry care.

The ground floor of the building would house office space for Active Care Services, an organization that provides care and supports for youth and seniors.

North Shore business owner Mitchell Forgie, who owns Red Beard Cafe and Bright Eye Brewing, came alongside Active Care’s Daryl Smeeton to put the development proposal before council.

Forgie said he was interested in the idea of creating housing for people in the workforce who require more affordable units.

“What I’ve been sort of thinking for quite a few years was, how about instead of finding ways to pay people more, what if we find ways that we can make their cost of living less,” Forgie said.

Forgie said he has collected 200 signatures on a petition and 15 letters of support from neighbours and businesses for the housing project.

“Our businesses are struggling to keep the hours that we have right now because we can't find employees housing near to where we are,” Forgie said.

“We're going to have more boarded up buildings on Tranquille than we have right now unless we start to make affordable accommodations for people who are going to work in those businesses.”

Sarah Johnstone, the communications director for the McDonald Park Neighbourhood Association, said her group had written a letter of support for the proposed housing project.

Johnstone said she believes the city needs to provide more opportunities for affordable housing.

“Certainly parking is a valid concern. However, we think that the good outweighs any concerns over parking for this project,” she said.

“We also thought it was a unique opportunity to continue to test conventional wisdom on issues such as minimum parking requirements, and to determine if having reduced or no parking is a barrier to tenancy in these buildings.”

In last week’s council meeting, Coun. Denis Walsh said as the development is proposed for a location that is walkable, accessible by bike and well serviced by public transit, there should be some considerations made.

“I think this is a very unique project, and it’s all about location and affordability. Where it’s located on Tranquille is a perfect example of a project that could do without the standard parking regulations and requirements,” Walsh said.

Coun. Arjun Singh abstained from voting due to a conflict of interest, but the other seven councillors voted in favour of considering the development variances. Mayor Ken Christian was opposed.



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