By Madeline Baker, Times Chronicle
Oliver town council had no difficulty re-issuing a multiple family development permit that has spent two years on pause at their August 8 meeting, but another permit to update the facing of a Main Street business didn’t inspire such easy consensus.
The first permit, which proposed a seven-unit townhouse development at 688 Co-op Avenue, was approved and issued in 2020 but expired this past July. Council got a second look at the project plan because the minimum distance required by local bylaws from a property line to the building, known as its “setback,” has changed since the first application.
Randy Houle, Oliver’s Director of Development Services, explained the land parcel on Co-op Avenue no longer has sufficient space to provide the new bylaw-mandated rear setback and this requires the applicant to ask for exceptions known as variances.
The applicant still plans to make significant improvements to the pre-existing landscaping along Fairview Road and Okanagan Street and use the existing lane for back lane access, and the Town will connect the frontage in that area to Nicola Street. Fairview Road will also gain a new stretch of on-street parking space from the development, up to 11 spaces.
The units themselves will each have two storeys, with the main living space on the first floor and three bedrooms upstairs. Their exterior features will include single-car garages, as well as decks upstairs and porches at ground level.
While there was some negative public feedback about the three-metre setback on Fairview Road when the application was first presented, Councillor Aimee Grice expressed her opinion that the many upgrades this development would bring to the area and the value of seven new units to the town were the most important considerations.
Councillor Petra Veintimilla also supported the development but reminded Houle to ensure that project developers address a potential traffic complication at the corner of Fairview Road and Okanagan Street. Local drivers said in 2020 that the corner was already a difficult turn to make and could not take any curb extensions.
Ultimately, council voted to re-issue the building permit with variances, but the same agreement could not easily be reached on the matter of a development permit to re-face the Casorso and Co. building at 6056 Main Street.
While the application, which intends to make use of a $2,000 grant offered by the Town for facade improvement, was technically sound and ticked all the necessary boxes, both Veintimilla and Grice felt that the new facade would be a blight on Main Street’s appearance.
Veintimilla called the proposed replacement of brick with stucco “flat and boring” and “too industrial” to fit in with other buildings in the town centre, while Grice said that it would be “just a blank grey wall” and would look “bland” despite the fresh facelift.
While Mayor Martin Johansen and Councillor Larry Schwartzenberger questioned whether it was even council’s job to dictate the appropriate appearance for downtown storefronts, Veintimilla stood firm in her opinion that any project plan for that area should have to include some aspect of visual interest in its design to be considered acceptable.
“The objective of the town centre development permit area … is to maintain and enhance the appearance of downtown,” said Veintimilla. “Yes, it is council’s job because if not, then what’s the development permit area for? Why are we asking for these plans if we can’t have an opinion about them?”
“I recognize that I’m going to be an outlier in this conversation, but this is our one and only opportunity to have some sort of a say on how Main Street is shaped over the coming years.”
Houle’s suggestion that the permit be accepted under the condition that project developers must submit a new design with landscaping details proved to be a reasonable enough compromise to get the permit issued, with only Veintimilla voting in opposition.
Once the project developers submit a new design and landscaping quote that receives council’s full approval, they will also have to pay the sum of that quote as a deposit to ensure that the decorative additions are completed.
