2040 Official Community Plan - Development Permit Area
Form and Character
Design Foundations apply to all projects and provide the overarching principles for supporting creativity,
innovation and design excellence in Kelowna. Applicants should read both the Design Foundations and guidelines
associated with their building type.
General Residential and Mixed Use Guidelines provide the key guidelines that all residential and mixed use
projects should strive to achieve to support the Design Foundations. The general guidelines are supplemented by
typology-specific guidelines which provide additional guidance with regard to form and character.
Section 488(1)(d) of the Local Government Act allows for the establishment of objectives for revitalization of an area in which commercial use is permitted. Section 488 (1)(e) of the Local Government Act allows for the establishment of objectives for the form and character of intensive residential development. Section 488 (1)(f) of the Local Government Act allows for the establishment of objectives for the form and character of commercial, industrial or multi-family residential development. Section 488 (1)(h),(i),(j) of the Local Government Act allows for the establishment of objectives to promote energy conservation, water conservation and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Unless exempted (see Exemptions below), a development permit addressing design guidelines must be approved for all properties that are currently, or become, zoned for multiple unit residential, commercial, health district, industrial, or zoned for institutional or comprehensive development containing multiple unit residential, commercial or industrial uses, as shown on Map 18.1 before:
- Construction of, addition to, or alteration of a building or structure.
Issuance of a general development permit for the site layout of a comprehensive or phased development project does not absolve applicants from the requirement for subsequent development permit(s) to address the form and character of individual buildings or environmental/hazardous conditions, or heritage conservation within the project site.
The Guidelines are intended to stimulate creative design responses, rather than to limit development flexibility or to dictate design solutions. Moreover, the intent of the Guidelines is to:
- Communicate the design expectations for residential, commercial, industrial, and mixed use projects
- Facilitate the fair and consistent application of design objectives
- Foster design excellence and enhance investment throughout the City by encouraging consistently high-quality, safe, functional, and attractive development
- Encourage projects to be appropriate to the City’s context and climate.
The city is experiencing rapid growth and is anticipated to accommodate an additional 45,000 residents over the next 20 years. This, along with the introduction of new infill typologies to address redevelopment pressures, as well as increased focus from the City and community on design excellence and climate change resiliency, justify the application of Design Guidelines for building form and character, energy conservation, water conservation and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Taken together, these Design Guidelines are intended to achieve the following overarching objectives:
- Communicate the design expectations for residential, commercial, industrial, and mixed use projects;
- Facilitate the fair and consistent application of design objectives;
- Foster design excellence and enhance investment throughout the City by encouraging consistently high quality, safe, functional, and attractive development; and
- Encourage projects to be appropriate to the City’s context and climate.
Incorporating these Guidelines into a project’s design will encourage the creation of contextual and compatible architecture, high quality pedestrian realms, resilient and context-sensitive design, and will contribute to placemaking and design excellence in Kelowna
A Form and Character Permit will not be required for:
- An addition or alteration to an existing principal building which will not be visible from an existing or future: adjacent public road right-of-way, adjacent park, adjacent residential, or adjacent agricultural zoned property, provided that the proposal requires no variance(s) from the Zoning Bylaw, and further, requires no approval from the appropriate provincial ministry or agency; or
- Replacement, alteration or addition to a building such as new siding, roofing, doors, building trim, awnings, and/or windows where it does not negatively impact the overall form and character of the building and would not impact the existing landscape or access provisions; or
- Interior renovations; or
- Replacement of a building that has been destroyed by natural causes, in cases where the replacement building is identical to the original in both form and character; or
- Construction, addition or alteration to not exceed 30 sq. m. (323 sq ft) for a single storey accessory structure (4.5m in height) is proposed and where no variance(s) of the Zoning Bylaw are required; or
- Construction, addition or alteration to not exceed 45 sq. m. (484 sq ft) for a single storey accessory structure (4.5m in height) where the building is non-habitable space and where no variance(s) of the Zoning Bylaw are required.
Guideline Hierarchy
Design guidelines are structured to clearly communicate the design goals of the City, with key guidelines identified at the beginning of each section that must be followed in all projects, followed by supplemental guidelines to support design excellence in Kelowna.
More specifically:
- The feature images at the start of each section illustrate the core design outcomes that projects should achieve;
- The key guidelines below the feature images describe core strategies for achieving the City’s desired design outcomes that projects must achieve; and
- The remaining guidelines provide further detail on strategies for achieving well-designed buildings in Kelowna.
Guideline Structure
The guidelines are structured similarly in all sections to enhance usability. Key design objectives are presented as intent statements at the beginning of each section. Each intent statement is followed by a series of guidelines which can be used to achieve the intent.
Each section includes:
- A guideline topic subheading;
- A design intent statement that states the goal of the guidelines;
- The guidelines, which outline strategies for achieving the design intent; and
- Supportive illustrations and photos that demonstrate guideline concepts.
Development permit area map
Development Permit Areas (DPAs) are identified in Map 18.1 - Urban Design Development Permit Area, and specific development guidelines, such as this chapter, apply to development within DPA's. The goal of DPA's is to ensure that development occurs in a way that supports the OCP.
