A development permit application for the proposed rehabilitation of a prominent heritage building with the addition of a hotel and restaurant is coming to Revelstoke council.
The application, with requested variances, is for 400 Mackenzie Ave. and the historic McCarty House, now called The Copeland.
A city memo explains the owners wish to restore the five-bedroom structure, built in 1900 by the city's first mayor, Frank McCarty, to an "authentic and historically accurate version of its original state." They also wish to construct two new additions to facilitate a connecting three-storey, 23-room boutique hotel with a restaurant on the ground floor.
The property is located in the city's Heritage Conservation Area and is zoned C2 (downtown fringe commercial).
Requested variances include changes to the loading area and parking. For the former, the plan is to use the laneway to the rear of the property, which "represents a variance to the zoning bylaw." Regarding parking, due to changes to the setback of the 23-room building – and subsequently the building's size – city bylaw requires 19 stalls (down from 22), including 12 for hotel guests and seven for restaurant patrons. The owners are proposing to have seven on-site stalls for hotel guests and provide payment in lieu for the remaining five hotel stalls. They are requesting a variance for the remaining seven stalls.
"So we’ll have seven spots in the back and then we have to pay in lieu for five spots, so $20,000 a spot… for parking," the Copeland's operations manager Conner Platten explained to the Review. "Then we also have an informal agreement with the church just down the way (St. Francis of Assisi Church) that we can use six to eight spots of their parking…"
Platten noted plans for the development were changed to address concerns raised at a public information meeting in July. Among the changes was relocating a proposed patio.
"We changed the patio from the back alleyway to the front of the building to minimize the noise in the back, and that ended up giving us another parking space as well which was great," said Platten.
Despite the changes, neighbours of the property still have concerns. Maria and Matthew Robinson have shared theirs with the city and, through social media, they are trying to raise awareness around the project and encouraging people to submit their own concerns to city council.
The couple argue the proposed development is a change of use and the required parking spaces, even without the variance, are not enough.
"Also, to our knowledge, none of the resident feedback from that (July) meeting has been addressed," reads a letter by the Robinsons to the city. "The only changes are the reduction in the size of the restaurant, achieved by descriptions only with no alterations to the floor plan."
Regarding the loading zone, the couple said the use of the alley will mean the idling of guest and delivery vehicles next to family homes, including theirs.
Also concerned with the condition of the alley, the couple asked it be paved and include speed bumps to control traffic speed, noting "of the neighbouring houses, 3 out of 4 of the other properties along this alley have small children that enjoy playing with each other outside."
The Robinsons expect parking will be a key focus when the application comes to council, as it is one of the bigger concerns for residents – "because you can’t do street parking over winter because of snow removal and also, it’s downtown, street parking is already full."
Regarding the new 23-room building, the Robinsons said they were informed by the developer that it is key to the overall project's feasibility.
"When the developer was pushed… he eventually said we won’t reduce the scale of it, which means we won't change the look of it because it’s not a financially viable option for us," Maria told the Review. "The developer just seems to want to maximize their revenue and have it designed in a way that affects residents, and they are not listening to any concerns from residents and we’re worried council is just going to push it through… we just want to be heard."
Platten explained the cost of the planned restoration necessitates "adding on."
"If you’re going to dig into a building like this and do everything that needs to be done to properly revitalize and restore, you do need to add onto it. And, I think one of the ideas in purchasing the building is we are sitting on a commercial property so the opportunity is there," said Platten.
"I totally get it, it is so scary for the town because we’re technically the first to push out downtown…I know a lot of people would love for it to be just left alone. That isn’t really feasible…"
As for parking, Platten suggested concerns stem from an overarching challenge that affects all of the downtown.
"I would love to see a parking plan in the near future – I would volunteer my time to try and help figure it out," said Platten. "I do think we’ll have to do some partnerships with Everything Revelstoke and the shuttle to get as much shuttle traffic as possible to lower the vehicles in town and the parking needs."
Speaking to the look and character of the new and restored buildings, Platten explained the object is to "make this feeling or experience of inviting people into a historic building of Revelstoke, to kind of share that historical piece."
"I always say I want it to feel like a living museum once we have it all up and running…," said Platten.
The upcoming council meeting is at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 26 in council chambers (after print press time).
