85-unit building planned

At Monday’s regular meeting, Vernon city council supported a zoning amendment application which will allow a land owner to build an 85-unit townhouse project in East Hill.

The property is at 1600 15th Street and the owner proposes building a mix of semi-detached, three-plex, and four-plex units with two-story, three-bedroom designs, available in walk-out and walk-up formats, according to a city report. The land is 4.45 hectares and currently sits vacant.

A city staff report says a public hearing is prohibited because the area is governed by the Official Community Plan (OCP), the bylaw aligns with the OCP and would permit development exclusively for residential uses, and residential uses would make up at least 50 per cent of the proposed gross floor area.

Mayor Victor Cumming raised concerns over the amount of street parking available in the area.

“I think that no parallel parking on 15th is a problem, and I think we're gonna find this immediately,” Cumming said. “So I put this back, not on the development, but on us to sort out how we handle visitor parking more effectively in this type of a neighbourhood.”

Vernon senior planner Michelle Austin, said there’s nothing in city bylaws that would trigger the review, but said the continued OCP review could give staff a chance to look into it.

Council approved the zoning amendments, but certain conditions must be met to adopt the change, including adjusting public access points, construction of a multi-use path and transferring park land to accommodate a pathway and fencing.