Resident group suing Penticton over lakefront condo development

A group of Penticton residents have launched a legal challenge against the City over its approval of a four-storey, eight-unit apartment building at 602 Lakeshore Drive.

The Penticton Society for Transparent Governance and Responsible Development filed a legal challenge in B.C. Supreme Court against the City of Penticton April 5, arguing the City has broken its own zoning bylaws by approving the condo building.

The society was registered just five days before the legal challenge was mounted and lists Peter Achtem, Jeanette Beaven, Gary Denton, and Dennis Hayashi as its directors.

The lakefront property saw a considerable amount of backlash from some in the community when Penticton council voted to rezone the site and allow for the development in January.

The council vote was also close with the developer winning over the council by four votes to three.

The notice of claim discusses the finer details of the City's zoning bylaws.

"Based on its width and area, the property complies with RM2 (zoning) and could be developed to a height of 12 metres," the notice of claim says. "However, the (City of Penticton) has ignored the width and area provisions in its own zoning bylaw and has purported to rezone the property to RM3 thus allowing for a height and level of density that is not intended or permitted for parcels the size of the property."

The notice of claim goes on to say that the four-storey condo building is "ill-suited" to its new zoning regulations and points to the fact the developer also needed several variances to allow the condo building to fit on the property.

The Society accuses the City of attempting to create a new zone so the apartment building can be built.

The lot at 602 Lakeshore Drive currently contains a single-family home, although it sits next door to a three-storey 42-unit apartment complex built in the 1970s.

The issue of development and housing in Penticton is often contentious with plenty of pushback from neighbouring properties.

In October last year, a group calling itself the Friends of Timmins Street launched an online petition against a multi-family residential development across from the campus of Okanagan College.

Publicly, the City has been embroiled in a spat with the provincial government over housing the homeless.

On April 5, a homeless man sleeping in a dumpster was seriously injured and later died after the dumpster was picked up by a recycling truck and the man was inadvertently crushed.

The City of Penticton has yet to respond to the Notice of Claim. None of the allegations have been proven in court.

The Penticton Society for Transparent Governance and Responsible Development did not respond by press time.

READ MORE: The end is near for Penticton's controversial homeless shelter

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