A hotel proposed for land across the highway from the airport is getting a closer look.
On Monday, council voted to defer a proposal to build a six-storey Sandman Hotel on the site of the old Pier Mac gravel pit off of Airport Way.
The proposal did not have planning staff's support, because of the current industrial zoning that's applied to the land.
Planning Manager Ryan Smith says they're feeling pressure to preserve the land.
"Generally, industrial land is in short supply overall in the City of Kelowna, and staff do whatever we can to protect the existing supply of industrial land. This industrial land formed sort of a tech campus that was anticipated to spread north from UBCO. And certanly, the university is expected to expand with some partnerships over the next couple years." he said.
Scott Thomson from the Northland Properties developers says the zoning specifially cites a business park, and believes the hotel would fall into that description.
He says it's also an under-served area.
"As of today, there's 120 hotel rooms within the six-storey Sheraton Four Points that serves the airport, and UBCO," he said.
"The next closest hotel is an entire 7.5 km away from these two major business drivers."
But council voted to defer the project until a future council meeting, in which time they can take a closer look at the future land use of the site.
Councillor Brad Sieben says council acted rashly when it denied plans for the Mission Springs Drive condos in September, and that this decision shouldn't be rushed into.
"I understand delaying it a few months probably isn't ideal for the applicant, but I think we as a council need to really wrestle with this area first," he said.
Council approved that decision unanimously, and will meet further with staff to discuss the future use of that industrial land.