Area residents got a look Monday night at a proposed 80-unit development for Willow Beach at the north end of Osoyoos Lake.

At an open house at the Sonora Community Centre, Ankenman Marchand Architects showed off maps and drawings for the proposal, which is vastly reduced in density from the original 1,088-unit development proposed in 2007.

“It was a very, very different proposal,” said Tim Ankenman, architect and development consultant, who has been working on plans for this development since it was originally proposed.

The new proposal incorporates public park along the beach front, as well as undeveloped natural areas bordering on more environmentally sensitive areas to the northeast.

“From an environmental standpoint, we’re leaving a tremendous amount of park and open space,” said Ankenman. “It’s very low density, and therefore very low impact … We’re basically leaving half the site natural.”

A lagoon will be created in the middle of the development to allow more waterfront properties, manage storm water drainage and increase the natural habitat.

The format of the open house did not provide for public statements from the architects or public questions and comments from the public. Visitors could, however, speak to the architects directly and leave comments on feedback forms.

While the Times didn’t hear from anyone opposing the plan itself, several visitors currently living in mobile homes on the site expressed concerns about being uprooted. They declined to speak on the record.

Ankenman said the phases of the development will take place over a long time and much of the initial development will be away from the mobile homes.

“We can build around them for as long as it takes,” he said. “I think there are only 20 mobile homes left. We have 80 sewer hookups, so we’d have to build 60 homes literally before they had to be displaced, and I think that nature will take its course and a lot of them will leave by then. I’m sure a lot of them won’t want to be in the middle of a construction site for that long.”

The initial owners of the property, Georgia Laine Developments Ltd., purchased the property for $23 million in June 2007 with the intention of building a 1,088-unit resort.

Ankenman said the initial proposal contained a mix of condominiums, town houses and apartments over shops with a small downtown core.

The project was subsequently abandoned in the economic downturn of 2008, and the lenders, Sprott Resource Lending Corp. foreclosed on the developers.

Ankenman said Sprott currently owns the property.

“Ideally they’d like to find a developer,” he said. “If nobody comes along, they will start to get things going.”

He acknowledged that by getting approvals out of the way, it will be easier to sell the development and will reduce the risk to a potential developer.

The project is able to tie all 80 units to the Town of Osoyoos’ Northwest Sewer Project, which was built where it was, Ankenman said, because of Willow Beach. The previous developer provided funding to the town towards the sewage project, although Willow Beach is actually north of the town limits.

The initial version of the current proposal was first put forward in April 2012, but its first showing at a open house was in November 2012.

Ankenman said the current proposal has changed very little from the November version, although small adjustments are introduced on an ongoing basis.

The main change is to set aside a site for a firehall at the request of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS), but there have also been adjustments to roadway widths, he said.

The proposal was favourably received in November, he said. Monday’s open house was done because the architects were meeting with the RDOS’s advisory planning committee and since they were here with their materials, they decided to do a second open house as well.

One of the maps on display showed different phases of development from June 2014 to 2018, however the actual development will depend on economic conditions, Ankenman said.

“It’s going to be entirely up to the market,” he said, noting that there are a number of other developments in the area that are closer to completion.

He hopes to go to market with the project this spring or summer if enough approvals are in place.

“Then, if there’s enough interest in it, we’d be building at the end of this year or early next year starting construction and servicing,” he said.