Kimberley City Council has voted to amend a bylaw that allows for the re-zoning of the currently vacant property that is 580 Mark Street.
Property Owner, Carl Lauren of Tyee Log Homes, requested the rezoning amendment from R-3 Multiple Family Residential to R3-B Multiple Family Residential for the future development of several townhouse complexes.
At a regular City Council meeting on Monday, Dec. 11, Council held a public hearing around re-zoning. No members of the public attended the hearing to voice their concerns. There were, however, two letters from residents submitted to the City, one in favour of the re-zoning and one against.
City Planner, Christopher Jones said in a report to Council that the R3-B zoning allows for smaller setbacks – both from the property line and between individual buildings – and a greater number of units based on the size of the property. While the preliminary proposal’s number of units (14) would be allowed under the current R-3 zoning, the number of buildings and their placement would not be permitted.
“The amended zoning would allow for more than one complex to be placed on this parcel fronting both Mark Street and Knighton Road and integrate into the existing built form and street face of the neighbourhood,” said the report. “The development will provide the same or more density than currently allowed under zoning but with more options for street level access and real property ownership.”
Manager of Planning Services, Troy Pollock says he read through both of the submissions and discussed the concerns, most of which revolved around parking and traffic related to the development.
“It’s a fairly common concern when land use changes are happening on a parcel has sat empty for a while,” said Pollock.
He adds that in their zoning proposal, Tyee has included a concept of their development plan. Pollock says there are a lot of details to sort out which will happen at the development permit stage.
“These plans are very preliminary,” Pollock said. “I stand by the proposed zoning recommendation, and to move forward and move them on to the next stage for a development permit. At that point we can best address the access issues and parking etc. If we [staff] have a plan that Council does not approve we can send them [Tyee] back to the drawing board.”
Mayor Don McCormick re-iterated that since the number of units remains the same in either zone, the traffic issues would be similar either way. To which Pollock responded saying that since the current zoning wouldn’t allow for the proposed arrangement of units and buildings, Tyee would have to revise their plan altogether.
“I think the issue here is Kimberley,” said McCormick. “If you take a look around at how the City was built out over the years, most of our roads and neighbourhoods are small, they are tight. I only have to point out 101 Street in lower Chapman Camp, which is essentially a back alley, but it is used as a front street for those folks. So we have all of these anomalies, and when it comes to building multi-unit housing, which we need desperately in town right now, most of the properties just aren’t ideal. So we’re dealing with compromise.”
