A rendering of the Costco Wholesale and accompanying 24-pump gas bar along Baron, Leckie and Springfield roads in Kelowna. (Contributed)

Costco rocks: Big box store looks to ‘crush’ at new Kelowna location

Big rocks are proving too big for construction crews, prompting an ask to the city to use a mobile crusher

  • Jun. 11, 2021 12:00 a.m.

Construction at Kelowna’s new Costco location has hit a snag.

The big rocks are bigger than anticipated.

As such, crews are looking for ways to make those rocks smaller and a mobile rock crusher seems to be the answer — pending approval from city council.

Costco was hoping to utilize the material already on-site to help grade the lot but due to the size of the rock and cobble, it’s unusable.

Typically, those rocks would be transported to an off-site gravel pit to be crushed but with the nearest sites being in West Kelowna and Lake Country, that would mean a significant amount of travel.

“The applicant estimates the total kilometres travelled to range from 7,680 km to 10,880 km for a total of 320 tandem truck loads,” reads city staff’s report.

With a mobile rock crusher, the work could be complete in 21 eight-hour days. The hours of operation for the rock crusher would be from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, excluding weekends and holidays.

The contractor plans to take measures to mitigate both noise and dust issues.

Council will deliberate the matter on June 22.

READ MORE: Kelowna council expedites road improvements in anticipation of new Costco

READ MORE: Kelowna council dismayed by lack of EV chargers at Costco’s ’24-pump mega station’

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