Lake Country approves permit for hotel despite location concerns

Published 1:25 pm Monday, March 9, 2026

Lake Country is looking to expand space for tourists, as council approved the development permit for for two six storey hotel and housing units.

The proposed complex would consolidate six properties in the area and would contain two buildings which would host a combined 235 hotel and residential units, as well as 13 units for commercial space.

Both buildings would have six stories of usable space, but building one, which contains the hotel units, is being built on a lower plateau.

An underground parkade would also be available, according to the site plan.

On Tuesday, March 3, Lake Country council unanimously voted to approve the project.

Councillor Tricia Brett voiced her support for the project, saying she was excited for the foot traffic the hotel and commercial centre would bring to Okanagan Centre Road East.

Mayor Blair Ireland agreed, saying that this project would bring active transportation to that road.

“(It’s) one of our biggest problems, I think (Okanagan Centre Road East) it’s one of our most unsafe roads, and this project is going to give us an opportunity to bite off a big chunk of that, and hopefully we can use our crews to get further done and provide a much safer road,” he said.

While Councillor Heather Irvine said the project is a “welcome addition to Lake Country,” but, she also spoke for the public and her council colleagues when she mentioned she would have preferred it to go up on the other side of Hwy 97, on Main Street.

Still, Irvine voted to approve the project, not wanting the community to miss out on the opportunity to have the development.

She assured the public that council and staff are still prioritizing the development of Main Street.

Jumping in, Ireland said Main Street cannot be developed without approval from the owner. He said the district has tried to find development partners to build on Main Street, but can’t do anything until the property owner is ready.