Residents of a historic Kelowna street say the city’s approval of an outsized new house has left them feeling wounded, but they intend to keep fighting to protect the character of their neighbourhood.
Randal Wilson and Dianne McFarland are longtime residents of Lake Avenue, which is in the heritage conservation area of Kelowna.
Together they are working to focus the city’s attention on the “fortress” sized home being built next door to their home.
It, they said, worsens the character of the street and, on Sunday, flanked by signs and carrying a growing list of names of people who agree with them, they asked for the city to answer how and why the project was permitted.
“It’s certainly out of place, it doesn’t belong here,” Wilson said, gesturing to the home that’s mid-construction but towers over all the other houses on the street.
“There have been many violations of the heritage conservation guidelines … I’ve lived here over for 50 years, and I just don’t know how in God’s name, they got permission to do this. It violates so many things.”
Wilson said when they went to the city to find out more about what to expect, they continued to come up empty-handed.
“We’ve been down there a dozen times, and nobody answers us,” he said.
“We’re just shuffled from one department to another and we don’t know what to do. ”
McFarland said that the city guidelines are pretty clear.
“(They) include things like the setback from the road; the coach house should be in the back and it’s not; garaging should be in the back, (but) it’s not,” MacFarland said.
“Blocking our sunlight to the degree it does is another issue.”
The new home casts a large shadow on the MacFarland’s property and it also blocks their sightlines and offers limited greenspace. All of it, she said, makes her feel “wounded” and a bit “depressed.”
Ultimately, however, she said not adhering to the guidelines set out by the city is not just a detriment to the people on the street, but the community at large.
“It’s a beautiful setting and it’s less than one per cent of the whole city of Kelowna,” MacFarland said.
“So we’re saying, ‘Hey, let’s keep this one little bit of history, and you can build up as density as you like the rest of Kelowna,'” she said.
“Preserve this wonderful bit of our history.”
Dwight Carroll, another resident of the street since 1978, is similarly rankled by the new project.
“Right on the corner of Water Street and Lake Avenue, there was a huge fight to make sure that it matched everything in the neighbourhood and in the case of this (new) house, I don’t think that’s what happened,” Carroll said.
“The knowledge base I think in the city is lacking because why would they make all these other folks go through such pains to make their houses look like the rest, and all of a sudden (do this)? It’s like a poke in the eye.”
The Calgary developer of the home was not at the site at the time of neighbours canvassing the area for support but the city did respond to questions, saying that the interests of the neighbourhood were kept in mind.
Ryan Smith, divisional director of planning and development, said the Abbott Street Heritage Conservation area is one of the most heavily regulated single-family neighbourhoods in the city.
The building under construction was reviewed by a professional consultant as part of the City process and the conclusion of the review was that the building was within applicable parameters.
“The building was found to comply with many of the City’s guidelines and therefore was approved to move forward into the construction process,” Smith said.
“It should be noted that the guidelines for review are quite broad and there is room for many different styles of homes in the conservation area. Many new non-traditional homes have been built over the years in the conservation area and these have generally integrated well with the existing housing stock.”
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