Kelowna’s 2040 Official Community Plan was adopted on January 10, 2022 — four years and four months before the public hearing on this rezoning. It designated this site as Suburban Residential. This application asks Council to change that designation for a single proposal.
Every site in the city — including 4482 & 4498 Gordon Drive — received its long-range designation through a multi-year public process.
Community-wide vision-setting that became the foundation for the OCP’s policy framework.
Successive rounds of public engagement, technical drafting, and refinement.
Council heard the public, then advanced the plan to the Province for review.
The 2040 OCP came into force. The subject site was designated S-RES — Suburban Residential.
Four years and four months later, Council is asked to amend the designation for this site — on application by the owners.
Section 471 defines an OCP as a statement of objectives and policies to guide decisions on planning and land use management. The Province describes OCPs as setting a community’s long-term vision.
Municipalities in BC are required by section 472 to adopt an OCP. Once adopted, all City bylaws and works must be consistent with it.
As of 2023, BC requires each municipality to review and update its OCP at least every five years, incorporating the latest Housing Needs Report. Kelowna’s legislated review is not yet due. That review — not an individual application — is the venue for policy changes of this kind.
An OCP exists to provide certainty — for residents, landowners, and the City. It is reviewed and updated on the five-year cycle the Province now requires. That is very different from amending a site-specific designation on application, before the legislated review is even due, with the burden falling on residents to defend a designation the City itself produced four years ago.
When the OCP was adopted, this site’s S-RES designation reflected an assessment of land use, transportation, services, and neighbourhood character. The application documents no material change in those conditions since 2022. Gordon Drive has not been widened. The school has not moved. The traffic has not eased. Provincial Bill 44 — adopted in 2023 — already permits significant new housing on this site without rezoning. The question stands: what has changed since January 2022 that justifies overriding the designation Council itself adopted?