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Preserve Kelowna’s Lower Mission Character

Kelowna’s Lower Mission neighbourhood has historically been a single-family home community. It is home to families with small children and has multiple daycares, elementary schools, and a high school. Two of only three arterial roads providing access to Kelowna’s downtown core from the significant developments of the Upper Mission bisect the neighbourhood and pass by those schools. These arterial roads are already inadequate for the volume of traffic now congesting them every morning and evening, with no ability to expand them.

Under a provincial mandate to increase density, Kelowna City Council is considering an application to amend the Official Community Plan (OCP) and rezone lots along Gordon Drive — application OCP25-0023 / Z25-0053, at 4482 & 4498 Gordon Drive. The proposal is for a 65-unit, three-storey townhouse development with rooftop patios (effectively four storeys), changing the zoning to MF2 (Townhouse Housing) and the OCP designation from S-RES (Suburban Residential) to S-MU (Suburban Multiple Unit).

This increase in density will add significantly to the already congested roads and further increase the threat to the safety and wellbeing of the children walking and cycling to school along these arterial roads.

In addition, three-storey townhouses with rooftop decks on these lots will drastically alter the character of the neighbourhood. Existing developments in the area all provide a transition from single-family homes to multi-family housing; this proposal does not, and will severely intrude on the privacy of neighbouring properties.

We entreat Kelowna City Council to deny the application to amend the Official Community Plan and the rezoning application, and to ensure that any development on these lots transitions from and blends in with the current character of the neighbourhood.