There’s room in the city for more hotel rooms, say city staff

PENTICTON – More hotel rooms could be on the way for the City of Penticton pending a decision by city council this evening.

City staff is recommending Penticton City Council approve the rezoning of several city lots along Eckhardt Avenue to tourist commercial in support of another hotel proposal at today's Aug. 1 regular council meeting.

The rezoning would make way for a proposal to construct a four-storey, 75-room hotel on the four parcels at 910, 920, 932 and 946 Eckhardt Avenue West, one of which was most recently a Petro Canada gas station that was demolished in January, 2014.

The Penticton Lakeside Hotel opened 70 new rooms in their latest expansion in late June, and council earlier this year gave the go-ahead to a previous proposal that would see a 95 room hotel built on the former bingo hall property.

Add the 75 rooms proposed in this development and that’s 235 new rooms in the city.

According to Chief Administrative Officer Peter Weeber, the additional rooms won’t overheat the market for hotel rooms in the city, noting hotels and motels have been coming and going.

“The Highland is gone, the Super 8 is shut down, there are a couple of others that have shut down or sold, but then there are new ones coming up,” Weeber says, noting new ones are, for the most part, higher-end rooms.

“We’re not getting anywhere near a saturation point. It’s often the city is plugged with people,” he says, adding everyone has different tastes and price points when it comes to selecting a room.

“Some people just want clean, simple layouts, others want things very high end,” he says.

The staff report notes the project would contribute to Penticton’s tourism industry with its proximity to the South Okanagan Events Centre.

The project is expected to generate $79,000 annually in municipal taxes and would have a construction value of around $10.3 million.

Access to the proposed hotel would be through a lane along the east side of the properties, with street frontage upgrades such as sidewalks also required.

A site specific amendment is also being requested to increase maximum height, waive bicycle parking and decrease the parking ratio for the four lots.

Staff are seeking first reading prior to the amendment going to public hearing on Aug. 15.

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