The City of Kelowna Official Community Plan recognizes the Cook Road Tourist Commercial Area as the only Tourist Commercial area in the City. The Aqua location is within this designated area and therefore compliant with the direction the Official Community Plan envisions for this area. See inset map on Zoning page.
A majority of the Aqua site is currently operating as the Eldorado Boat Harbour, a dryland storage facility for boats. This operation will be decommissioned at the end of 2008. This land was zoned at the City's request to C-9 Tourist Commercial several years ago which recognized the long-term goals for the site as Tourist Commercial with the boat storage as a temporary use.
The Commercial section of the OCP addresses Tourist Commercial in the following points:
.24 Commercial Use of Water Front Lands. Encourage commercial use of waterfront where the Inner City Shore Zone Plan provides for such use. At other waterfront locations, commercial uses other than visitor accommodations will be discouraged unless the proposed use would significantly enhance public enjoyment of or access to the lakefront.
.25 Development over Lake Surface. Prohibit development over the surface of the lake unless public enjoyment of the waterfront is significantly enhanced as a result of such development (e.g. the creation of park space);
.26 Commercial Tourist Attractions. Consider Okanagan Lake to be Kelowna's main tourist attraction and will therefore discourage commercial tourist attractions from locating in the shore zone area. Only those commercial attractions which are directly dependent on the lake, which are environmentally-friendly, and which add to the public enjoyment of the shore zone will be allowed along Okanagan Lake;
.27 Tourist Commercial. Consider commercial development for tourism related uses in the Capozzi/Truswell Road area as outlined in the South Pandosy/KLO Sector Plan.
It is clear that Aqua observes these any many other policies of the Tourist Commercial section in the OCP. Public access to the lake will be opened up on the site which to date, has not been provided due to the private residences on the waterfront in this location.
