Four-plexes like these in Kelowna could be allows on most single-family lots in B.C. under proposed new legislation.

(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)

New provincial legislation requires four or six units to be permitted on residential lots. But what will this mean for Kelowna’s much-loved heritage neighbourhoods?

Heritage sites on Abbott Street and Marshall Street will not be immune to the province’s new housing infill rules, despite these neighbourhoods housing some of Kelowna’s most significant historical homes.

“It's actually quite explicit in the legislation that heritage conservation areas cannot be used to limit density,” Robert Miles, Long Range Policy Planning manager for the city, told iNFOnews.ca.

The City of Kelowna intends to only allow up to four units per lot in these areas and how those units are accommodated can take many different forms.

“Because of our heritage conservation area and wanting to preserve character of the area to the best of our ability, (it) will be a zone that typically would be more common in a more suburban neighbourhood rather than a more urban neighbourhood, like in our core area," Miles said.

City staff will soon be providing an updated set of development guidelines for heritage conservation areas.

“We wanted to update these development guidelines well before the legislation was announced,” Miles said. “We recognize that those development guidelines for this neighbourhood were out of date and that they needed a refresh to be more effective at maintaining the character of the neighbourhood.

"As we started that process we learned of the legislation so now we're including additional updates to those guidelines to accommodate the new housing forms that the new legislation will provide.”

In addition to guidance for single or two-family homes in the area, staff will also demonstrate the different ways four-plexes can take form.

“What we could see for example is a situation where someone takes an existing heritage home and renovates it on the inside and repurpose it to allow for four units. That's a possibility.”

Residents could also renovate a home to two units and utilize a carriage house in the back for the other two. 

That guideline will go to council once the new zoning amendments are adopted around April or later.

In November, city staff talked with neighbours who raised concerns about the character of heritage buildings and existing tree canopy cover being lost.

“We are going to be paying special attention to really defining what are those defining elements that make that neighbourhood unique,” Miles said.

However, it will be some time until the details of those guidelines are released.

“We are certainly doing our best to balance the character of the neighbourhood with the with the legislation that the government has passed.”

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