Signboard at the location of a proposed 180 unit housing development at 2550 Ord Road. (Photo via Victor Kaisar)

Plans to build a 180 unit, three-building apartment complex on Ord Road in Kamloops could face a lot of vocal opposition at a public hearing Tuesday evening.

A number of people and organizations have written letters saying they are concerned about the impacts to wildlife – in particular rattlesnakes and big horn sheep – if the development moves forward

“Grasslands are scarce in B.C. and we’re lucky in Kamloops to be surrounded by some beautiful grasslands, and lot of people tend to take them for granted, but they are special,” Mike Dedels, the Executive Director of the Grasslands Conservation Council of BC, told Radio NL.

“Grasslands cover less than one per cent of B.C., and its a unique landscape that supports over 30 per cent of the species at risk for at least a part of their life cycle. It’s important in the big picture.”

Dedels says adding more housing in the area will lead to an increase in human-wildlife conflicts, noting the its almost always the wildlife that ends up suffering more.

“As development occurs, there is going to be losers on the nature side,” Dedels said. “We’ve got an amazing grassland park in the Lac DuBois protected area right against Kamloops, and by developing right against it, you’re losing some of the values of that park.”

“Once you make a development, you’re going to have those impacts by destroying the grasslands that is there, which destroys the habitats. That kind of area would be best off left for nature.”

Jesse Ritcey, a Program Manager with the Kamloops Naturalist Club, says while housing is very important, the money being put into building these apartments “can be spent elsewhere.”

“The workers who’d be building these units employed elsewhere building other projects more quickly,” Ritcey said. “However, the animals being supported here won’t be able to go elsewhere.”

“The impact of paving the area for parking and putting up three apartment buildings, and then 200+ people and their pets having Rattlesnake Bluffs and Lac du Bois protected area as their backyard, cannot be mitigated.”

The proposed development is going through a public hearing due to a required change in land designation from A1 agricultural to RM4 multi-family residential.

Should the rezoning pass, the developer is still expected to conduct studies to determine the impact the housing project might have on the local wildlife.

The City says a spring 2024 report by Triton Environmental Consultants found three potential rattlesnake den areas in the area of the site, with one located in the property at hand.

“As the other two locations were upslope of the property within the Lac Du Bois Grasslands Protected Area, it was determined that they would not be directly impacted by possible development of the property,” a staff report by City Planner Jonathan Reitsma said.

“The potential den location on the property will require ongoing monitoring to determine whether the snakes use it and, depending on the findings, may require relocation of the snakes, isolation fencing to ensure that snakes do not enter the construction site, post-construction education outreach to new residents regarding rattlesnakes, and possible installation of snake fencing or similar alternatives around the property perimeter.

Reitsma also said there were “high numbers” of bighorn sheep found around the property, and that it is “well documented” that sheep utilize the property and the adjacent Nature Conservancy of Canada site.

“While it is noted that some winter forage would be eliminated, specifically towards the eastern portion of the site, the adjacent foraging and escape terrain would not be impacted by the proposal,” the report added.

“The wildlife biologist noted that removal of the winter forage will prompt the sheep to utilize the habitat found to the west on the Nature Conservancy of Canada property, and the development may act as a beneficial barrier between the sheep and Ord Road, which has frequent traffic volumes at relatively high speeds.”

The public hearing is scheduled to get underway at 7 p.m., Sept. 10, at City Hall.