Kamloops council gives green light to 191-unit apartment building

A proposed 191-unit residential building planned for the North Shore was approved by Kamloops City Council Tuesday evening.

In order to approve the project and issue a development permit, council also had to discharge a no-build covenant on the property.

The covenant was put in place in 2014 on a large portion of the rear of the property in an effort to provide an increased setback from single-family homes.

The building will, according to a staff report, be built across three properties in the 1000-block of 8th Street, near the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and 7-Eleven.

Council was told that the applicant, Total Concept Developments, will be building two six-storey, mixed-use buildings.

The larger building, which will sit on the northernmost section of the property, will have 126 residential units, a rooftop amenity area and two commercial units on the ground floor.

One of the units will be 416 square metres and the other will be about 216 square metres.

The smaller building will sit to the south and will contain 65 units, which will be designated for seniors social housing. It will be operated by the Centre for Seniors Information (CSI).

According to the staff report, this building will also contain a 428 square metre commercial unit.

There will be 65 studio units, 83 one-bedroom plus dens and 43 two-bedrooms units spread across both buildings.

The developer plans on providing 240 parking spaces, which is 39 more than required by the city’s bylaw.

City staff say the development will include an underground parkade and at-grade parking around the buildings with access to and from the northbound lanes of 8th Street and from a rear lane, which will connect the development to Richmond Avenue south of the site.

Additionally, the city gave the green light to entering into a housing agreement with the developer to ensure that the building consists of affordable market rental housing targeted for seniors.