Artist rendering of a proposed town house development on Rockcress Drive in the Dufferin neighborhood of Kamloops/via City of Kamloops
The City of Kamloops is moving forward on a rezoning plan for a new town house project in Dufferin, which has upset some of the local residents.
The rezoning itself is to allow for 28 units to be built on a vacant lot at 1385 Rockcress Drive, rather than the maximum of 24 the city’s bylaws currently allow for on a development of this physical size.
“The applicant is proposing to construct a 28-unit market townhouse development on the property. This equates to a density of 24.56 units per hectare, exceeding the existing site-specific density restriction of 21.04 units per hectare,” noted a report submitted to council as part of the application. “As the proposed development exceeds the maximum permitted density, the applicant has applied to rezone the subject property to increase the density.”
The City’s Development Manager, Marvin Kwiatkowski, says part of the project will include the creation of a retaining wall which has drawn the ire of some of the locals in the area.
“There would be an encroachment — for construction only — into that narrow strip of park land. Maximum they’re looking at is about a 2.5 meter encroachment,” said Kwiatkowski as part of his report to City Council, saying the project itself would only do temporary damage to a small portion of the Park. “There’s no tie-backs required. It’s not like they have to put anchors back into the City park, and that those would need to stay there for good. There is no requirement for anchors. It’s really just to excavate and to install that retaining wall.”
Aerial view of Rockcress Drive town house development location/via City of Kamloops
Locals in the Rockcress neighbourhood have complained about the retaining wall overtaking portions of Kenna Cartwright Park on a permanent basis.
While there was a presentation to council on Tuesday with concerns about the project, Kwiatkowski notes the City can move forward without holding a public meeting, as per new rules created by the BC government under the “Homes for People” program in the fall to speed up housing development.
“You’re going basically from residential housing to residential housing. It doesn’t matter on the density, if there’s a density increase. We cannot legally hold a public hearing.”
While there will be no public hearing, concerned citizens can still voice their thoughts at the next council meeting on June 25th when the rezoning will be up for approval.
