Long-term vision for Kelowna’s civic district endorsed by council

DEVELOPING OLD RCMP BUILDING SITE CENTRAL TO PLAN

KELOWNA – Planners call it ‘the spine’ of Kelowna’s civic precinct: the eventual extension of The Artwalk, through the old RCMP headquarters and, eventually, past City Hall connecting through to Queensway Avenue.

That vision and more is contained in the civic precinct plan, narrowly endorsed by Kelowna city council on Monday, as the blueprint for downtown’s future.

The plan lays out future land uses for the area centred around the sale and development of the soon-to-be-empty RCMP building site on Doyle Avenue.

With Monday’s vote, the city will now move to partition the lot under the RCMP building and seek requests for proposals from qualified developers for a mixed use building from 6 to 13 storeys on the site.

The site will likely be held on a long-term lease with proceeds directed toward developing public amenities in the area.

In the short term, key to the plan is to increase the supply of housing of all kinds in the downtown area through mixed use development.

Longer term, from 10 to 30 years, plans are to redevelop the Kelowna Museum, Memorial Arena and the big parking lot beside City Hall as future civic developments as required by the Simpson covenant, a legal restriction on what can be developed on the site.

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