Council rejects Sutherland apartment building

Great plan... wrong location.

That's how Kelowna City Council viewed a proposed affordable apartment complex on Sutherland Avenue.

Owner Walter Weisstock was hoping his property near Richter Street could be rezoned to make way for a 39 unit building with most of the apartments less than 700 square feet in size.

But when Weisstock refused civic staff's request to sign a housing agreement to secure the affordable dwellings in the long-run, that put a snag in the plans.

"They wanted the housing agreement in perpetuity - which meant forever - I just thought that was pretty harsh for units that were this small."

But that wasn't what put City Councillor Angela Reid off.  She says, "My key issue with this is not the housing agreement... but just the inappropriateness of that type of building in this residential area."

The proposed building would be 4.5 storeys high, which staff says is substantially higher than the existing 1 or 1.5 storey established form of the neighbourhood.

City Councillor Robert Hobson agrees:

"I like the idea of smaller units.  But in this location, I honestly think it's significantly out of character with the neighbourhood."

Council unanimously sided with civic staff, rejecting the proposal.