Porchlight granted development permit with variance

JOANNE LAYH

Peachland council has authorized the issuance of the development permit with a variance for Porchlight Developments’ project on Clements Cres.

Last month Porchlight Developments’ proposal for a four-storey 84-unit multi-residential building in the Clements neighbourhood received final adoption with unanimous approval from Peachland council.

As a result, the Official Community Plan (OCP) has been amended from Low Density Residential (LDR) to Medium Density Residential (MDR) for a portion of the property and the parcel was rezoned from A2 Rural (non-ALR) to RM4 Multiunit Residential – Medium Density and R1 Single Detached Residential to allow the developer to build rental apartments at 5481 Clements Cres., which is located between Peachland Elementary School and Trepanier Creek.

When the proposal came to council for first and sec- ond readings last March, Porchlight, also the developer for the Crystal Lake project on the former Todd’s RV site, was initially proposing a stratified building with an affordable homeownership model but later proposed the building consist of rental units.

When a development permit application came to

Peachland council last week it included a variance request to reduce the number of required motorcycle parking spaces from 25 spaces to five spaces.

“The applicant is requesting a variance to the minimum motorcycle stall requirements, as they feel that this bylaw requirement is unique to the District of

Peachland and in order to provide the additional 20 motorcycle stalls, additional mature trees would need to be removed from the site,” noted planning consultant Shannon Tartaglia in a report to council.

A zoning bylaw review of the municipalities throughout the Okanagan found that the District of Peach- land’s motorcycle regulation is unique, as Zoning Bylaw No. 2100 is the only bylaw in the Okanagan that includes a minimum motorcycle stall requirement.

A development notice sign was posted on the property advising of the requested variance and letters were sent to the adjacent property owners within 100 metres of the subject property, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, no member of the public responded to object to the decreased number of required motorcycle stalls.

Residential parking for the building will be provided in both underground parking and a large landscaped surface parking lot for a total of 143 parking stalls and bicycle parking will be provided throughout the development.

The residential development will include large decks and patios, a sports court, raised community garden beds and several landscape courtyards with a variety of seating areas, and in addition to these private amenities, a public walkway is being proposed to connect existing Clements Cres residents to the new parkland that was created behind the development as part of the rezoning process; however construction of the trail is not a requirement of the permit.

The project is anticipated to begin this summer and construction is anticipated to take 18 months to finish.