The City of Kamloops is pushing for a zoning change that would make infill development easier in some parts of the city.

City planner Stephen Bentley says staff are considering reducing the minimum lot size for Dallas, Westsyde, Dufferin and parts of Aberdeen.

“These areas have historically had larger minimum-lot sizes, because they were historically serviced by septic systems. We now have adequate capacity in our systems for basically more intensive kinds of development. Similar to downtown or Sahali, or other places.”

Bentley says the proposal is to rezone those areas to single family residential (RS-1) or two family residential (RT-1), which in some locations would cut the minimum lot size in half for any potential new development.

He says the proposed changes would have the biggest impact in Dallas.

“We’d be looking at the potential for probably 43 more lots through one-lot subdivisions. There’s a large, vacant kind of greenfield site in Dallas. They could probably have about 90 lots now under current zoning. You could probably have another 60 to 90 lots with this RS1 zoning that we’re proposing.”

During a recent committee of the whole meeting, staff showed three options to council for rezoning to RS-1 in Dallas: rezoning all RS-2 properties except those in a silt bluff hazard, rezoning land near the No. 17 bus route on the south side of Highway 1, or rezoning properties within 800 metres of the Dallas Town Centre.

The plans are expected to come to a regular Kamloops council meeting for direction at a later date.