– South Meadowlark area plan now a priority for Town –

By Lawrence McMahenrnOsoyoos Times

The recent purchasers of the Elks' property on Highway 97 at 62nd Avenue have made a bold new overture to the Town of Osoyoos in an effort to gain approval for their proposed housing and residential care development.
The group of developers from the Lower Mainland, headed by Seniorcare President Pat Frewer, has now also entered into an agreement to buy the 17-acre Bhandol orchard property at 6218 Highway 97, which wraps around Pfingsttag's Pond just east of the highway.
Frewer told the Osoyoos Times last week his consortium is proposing to build a major affordable-housing development on the property, as well as create a public pathway and park beside the pond, and donate some of the affordable-housing units to the Town.
The project could include as many as 34 townhouses and 78 condos.
Frewer says at the same time, his group is modifying the proposed Waterscape Villas residential development it plans for the Elks property “ putting all the parking underground and changing some of the townhouses to a larger number of condominiums, to make the project more economically feasible.
The developers will also build a new clubhouse for the Elks on that property, and plan to construct a building containing assisted-living units on the site. The overall idea for the Elks property is a campus of care with a mix of assisted-living and independent living retirees. The comfortable new Elks clubhouse could provide recreational opportunities for the townhouse, condo and assisted-living residents in the area, and the residents could provide the Elks with a source of new members, Frewer says.
In July he had told the Times that although their original proposal for an Elks clubhouse and 28 strata-title townhomes on the Elks property received a good public response when it was unveiled in Osoyoos in January, he and his associates were frustrated with the lukewarm response their plans were getting from Town planners.
Frewer had said the planners wanted to focus on a need for affordable housing in Osoyoos and weren't seeing the Elks property plans as satisfying that priority.
Now, Frewer says his new overall plans “ with townhouses and condos for retirees on the Elks property and a great deal of affordable housing for young families and core need, low-income people on the Bhandol property “ are getting a better reception from Osoyoos Town planners.
We met Nov. 7 at the Planning Department and we're very happy with their receptiveness to our unit mix, Frewer says.
He adds that the project on the Bhandol property, a phased approach for affordable units in this area, could become the poster child for affordable housing in Osoyoos.
Of the 17 acres on the Bhandol site, Frewer says seven acres are developable. They must first be released from the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), but he says the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) says it will look favourably on releasing the land as long as the Town comes forward with a master plan for the overall South Meadowlark area which includes plans for affordable housing.
We propose a public walking path (along Pfingsttag's Pond), dedication of a park at one end of the pond, and we propose to give some housing units to the Town, to be operated as low-cost housing, Frewer says.
He says that while he is very encouraged by his meeting with Town planners, the hold-up will be the fact that the planners must finish an overall South Meadowlark plan before his project can move forward. The plan will cover the area between Hwy. 97 and Meadowlark Drive, and 74th Avenue and 62nd Avenue.
Frewer says he is asking the planners if they can move his project's approvals forward at the same time as the Meadowlark plan is being finalized.
He says he appreciates the huge amount of work the Town's planners have on their plates, but he adds that the recent fast approval of the density bonus bylaw and the Indigo development showed that when the political will is there, new plans and a major project can get a quick OK from planners and Council.
It's been great working with the planners, and we hope that the momentum picks up now, Frewer says.
Town Planner Alain Cunningham tells the Osoyoos Times the South Meadowlark area can only be opened up for development if the ALC releases it from the land reserve. But he notes the ALC has endorsed in principle their willingness to receive a block application from the Town to release the area from the ALR. In keeping with the Osoyoos Official Community Plan (OCP) and with what the ALR wants to see, the plan would include a significant affordable housing component directed to young framilies, Cunningham says.
He notes that a master plan for the South Meadowlark area will be developed with community input and will be presented to Town Council for its endorsement.
Cunningham says that although the planners have many other projects also on the go, preparation of the (South Meadowlark) area plan is a very high work priority.rnThe Bhandol property “ including a large home, a fruit stand, a 17-acre mixed fruit orchard and the two-acre pond “ were listed for sale at $2.09 million in March, after owner Malkiat Singh Bhandol was extradited from Canada to his native India to face charges that he fled that country in 1978 after losing his appeal of a 1975 conviction for murder. Bhandol planned to introduce new evidence in India that he hopes will exonerate him of any guilt in the murder.