Kelowna council has postponed a decision on whether to reduce the amount of parking required immediately around Prospera Place pending more information about a planned new residential building being eyed for the corner of Water Street and Clement Avenue.
The land the building would go on is currently part of the parking lot that surrounds Prospera Place and was one of three lots created when the city and the owner of Prospera Place made a deal to allow the arena to be built in 1999.
The parking ratio reduction proposal would allow the developers of the building to provide one parking space for each living unit in the building. That would be in line with the rest of the downtown area. Currently the parking requirement is 1.24 spaces for every one-bedroom unit, 1.5 spaces for every two-bedroom unit and two spaces for every three-bedroom unit.
Council said it wanted more information about what type of units will be provided in the building and also wants to make sure there is enough parking left after the development is complete to handle the need created by events at the arena.
No date was given for when the issue would return to council.