— Many packinghouse-site details still to be resolved —

(OSOYOOS TIMES — August 30, 2006) —

Developers of the four-storey, 153-suite Watermark Beach Resort planned for the old packinghouse site in downtown Osoyoos are starting to satisfy local authorities on details of the major project.
The resort along Main Street from Gyro Beach to SuperValu will include a 123-unit resort building, five six-unit townhouses, a restaurant, outdoor pools, a poolside wine and tapas bar, a fitness club and spa, retail stores, underground parking for 165 cars, surface parking for another 50, and a 200-seat conference centre.
Town Council gave the project third-reading approval for zoning July 18, but councillors noted the developers must get approval from Town planners, local committees and Council on all development details of the proposed resort, including the public lakeshore park walkway and beach, any plans for a boat dock, and engineering matters like storm-water drainage.
And a number of councillors also want to see as many of the details as possible agreed upon before the developer formally applies for the development permit, expected in the near future.
On August 8, the Osoyoos Design Review Committee approved the form and character of the Watermark's design.
And on August 22 representatives of Osoyoos Shoreline Development, the group proposing to build the Watermark, met with the Osoyoos Parks and Trails Committee to tour the waterfront and discuss how the developers propose to handle issues like public access to the park, the walkway and the beach.
In a news release last week, the developers say the project architect is expected to set a new and unparalleled standard for luxury developments in the South Okanagan, and to help launch Osoyoos into Canada's elite calibre of year-round vacation destinations.rnAfter the town's Design Review Committee approved the design, Watermark project manager Glen Harris said he is enthusiastic about the opportunity to turn this vacant historic site into something the whole town can be proud of.rnHe says the resort, on 4.5 acres of lakefront property, with more than 1,000 feet of sandy beach is destined to become a key anchor for the town of Osoyoos. The resort offers unit owners a rental pool service, allowing them to earn revenue by renting their suites out for short terms to vacationers.
Town Councillor Stu Wells, a member of the Osoyoos Parks and Trails Committee, says it held a really, really good meeting August 22 with Watermark, and he was impressed with how responsive the developers are to the wishes of the Town and the Osoyoos public.
Watermark's Glen Harris and a landscape architect attended the meeting with the committee, which has representatives of the Town and community groups on it. We had a very frank and open dialogue, and we walked the whole way along the lake from the park near the bridge to the boat-launch near Lion's Park, Wells says.
It was nice to look at the total picture. [The Watermark developers] have a lot of work to do and a lot of issues to answer, but they're eager to do that, Wells adds.
He says he's impressed with the plans for landscaping and public access that will be maintained along the lakeshore in front of the Watermark, and at the meeting the developer and committee were looking for ways to minimize the number of trees that will need to be removed to make way for the resort.
The question of whether the developer could apply to build a boat dock has been contentious, since they would have the right to do so, but some councillors believe that would ruin the current public swimming nature of that stretch of beach.
It was refreshing to note that Glen Harris agreed that a dock would challenge the integrity of the swimming-only area, Wells notes.
A Watermark Resort sales office and presentation centre is located on the downtown site.
Representative Bryn Knauf says while the company is not taking purchase offers yet, it is letting people get onto a priority list giving them an option to buy when sales begin in mid- to late-September. More information is available on the website: www.ownwatermark.com
The former fruit packinghouse in downtown Osoyoos was built in 1925 and closed down in 1988. It was demolished in 2002.