Potential strata development at The Dunes in hands of Agricultural Land Commission

KAMLOOPS – An application has been forwarded by the city to the Agricultural Land Commission to allow homes to be built at The Dunes golf course in Kamloops.

The North Core Development application has been given city council's stamp of approval with the Land Commission having the final say. The developers are looking to have some land excluded from the Agricultural Land Reserve and in exchange will add back other land that was previously excluded. 

The application states the developer is looking to build 317 homes in a strata development on the land that would be excluded around The Dunes at Kamloops golf course. It says the city would not be required to extend services.

At a council meeting this week, councillors had questions about the potential for urban sprawl and the densification of the city. Development manager Marvin Kwiatkowski told council this would not constitute urban sprawl by the city’s standards.

“This was considered in-fill,” Kwiatkowski said. “Not an extension of city services.”

City staff said that while they looked at many aspects of the application, they are not experts in the land itself and the land commission would be better qualified to make a decision concerning the quality of the land for agricultural use.

A previous development application for the area did not go through.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Brendan Kergin at bkergin@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.