Kelowna city council has given the green light to the creation of a liquor store in a small new commercial plaza in Glenmore.
The store, to be no larger than 185-square-metres, is slated for the Hillside Plaza, currently being built beside the Conservatory residential building at the corner of Glenmore Road and Summit Drive.
Council approved the move Monday after city planning staff supported it. Staff said it will be far enough away from other liquor stores in the area and will be easy to walk to for the growing population of south Glenmore.
The nearest liquor store is 1.75 kilometres away on Keen Road in Glenmore. The city’s policy for the location of liquor stores is to have them at least 1.5 kilometres away from each other.
Earlier bids by developers to build a liquor store on the site were rejected by the city because they all proposed a much larger operation, said the staff report.
The store will be located in the fifth of five buildings to be located in the plaza. Some of the buildings are already complete and some commercial businesses are already operating there.
In addition to approving the plaza itself, two rental residential buildings are also slated for land surrounding the Conservatory, one an 86-unit apartment building and the other, a 166-unit rental building.
Both are expected to start construction this year.