A Kelowna property owner's dream home may never become a reality.
At Monday's meeting, council voted against a re-zoning application for the site at the foot of Knox Mountain Park.
The house was to be situated on a steep ridge just off of Herbert Heights Road, with another home on the same property down the hill on Poplar Point Drive.
Councillor Tracy Gray says she thinks it doesn't look out of place.
"I look at the rest of the neighbourhood, where in fact we do have 16 houses already built on this street, and this is the only property that doesn't have one at that particular top-side location. There's a long list of checks and balances that have to occur before potentially this development might happen," she said.
Mayor Colin Basran says even though there are those other homes in the area, he didn't like the somewhat precarious location of this one.
"It pains me, because obviously I'm typically a fan of development, and urban development. But I just think in this particular site, aesthetically for me in large part, it just doesn't belong in that particular area," he said.
"And so it's for that reason, unfortunately, because I think the applicant is a very good person, but that's not what we're voting on. So I don't believe that's the appropriate place for a home."
The development team had agreed to complete a full geotechnical report before final approval was granted, to address safety concerns over the grade of the ridge.
Basran says even he was nearly swayed to vote it forward to that public hearing.
"I don't think this is the appropriate place to build a home, therefore I don't think the zoning is appropriate. I'm tempted to at least put it along to public hearing, but I don't believe that that would be a good use of funds and time of our city staff," he said.
"So while I appreciate the effort - I think a Geotech could easily prove this out - but I just don't think it's an appropriate spot for it."
But four of the eight council members voted against that pitch - saying that regardless, the site wasn't a good fit to be zoned for high density.
That tie vote was enough to defeat the application.