Kelowna Costco is looking to relocate to keep up with growing demand and population.
At the city meeting on Monday November 23rd councillors discussed traffic impacts and other concerns.
Divisional Director for Planning and Development Services, Ryan Smith said traffic in the area is growing regardless and Costco has agreed to pay for improvements.
“It was a challenging traffic impact study process. Staff identified a number of different intersections that Costco will be paying to improve and the cost of those improvements is to the tune of $2.5 million.”
The site on Baron Rd, behind Superstore, would allow for both a gas bar and a larger warehouse.
Other council concerns were land-use, pedestrian access from the parking lot and close proximity of the warehouse to neighbouring residential apartments.
The public will now have a turn to give their input at a public hearing.
As the city expects a turnout larger than allowed according to provincial COVID-19 restrictions, they have come up with a plan.
“The community theatre will be open as well that evening staring at 4pm and so if [the] room is full or after you've presented, you can go to the community theatre to watch. There won't be an ability to speak from the community theatre but it's fairly short distance away so if we do get over the numbers we do have a fallback plan,” said City Clerk, Stephen Fleming.
The public hearing scheduled for on Tuesday, December 6th.