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From 2021 to 2022, a total of 1,330 single-family homes in Kelowna met the bulldozer and were torn down to make way for redevelopment.
And 35% more such demolitions are expected over the next decade as Kelowna grows with higher density redevelopment from four-plexes and townhouses to apartment and condominium buildings.
It's a sign of progress -- out with the old and in with the new.
And Kelowna is getting a lot of new.
Highrise condominium buildings are springing up downtown, in South Pandosy and along the Mission lakefront, four-plexes are de rigueur in the core of the city and six-storey apartment buildings are all the rage all over Kelowna.
All this redevelopment needs land and often that land has older single-family homes on it that need to go to make way for higher density.
Photo credit: Samuel Cruz on Unsplash
In the decade 2012-22, 1,330 single-family homes were demolished in Kelowna to make way for higher density redevelopment.
Kelowna's demolition numbers come from Vancouver-based Renewal Development and Light House -- both of which want to see more of these houses slated for obliteration to be rescued and relocated or deconstructed and recycled.
"There is still so much life in many of these homes and we are just throwing them away," said Renewal Development CEO Glyn Lewis.
"Municipalities have a social and fiscal responsibility to be part of the solution."
Photo credit: Renewal Development
Glyn Lewis is the CEO of Vancouver-based Renewal Development.
Renewal started in 2020 to rescue, relocate and repurpose good single-family homes from urban areas to non-urban communities.
Light House provides governments and the building industry with policy advice on how to integrate more relocation and recycling into planning and redevelopment.
Together, Renewal and Light House are calling on municipalities like Kelowna to take a three-pronged approach:
- A pre-demolition assessment to determine if pre-1970 houses slated for demolition can be relocated or deconstructed
- Imposed a refundable deposit on developers where relocation or deconstruction is deemed feasible
- Implement a green removal permit allowing relocation or deconstruction before the developer receives a building permit
Photo credit: Linkedin
Ryan Smith is the City of Kelowna's director of planning and development.
"I don't think the stick approach (of more rules or punishment of developers) will work in this case," said City of Kelowna director of planning and development Ryan Smith.
"Delaying permitting (for development) is not the way of going about it."
Smith admits very few homes in Kelowna slated for demolition are ever relocated.
"Where would these houses be moved to?" he asked.
"And, if they are moved, the further you take them the more expensive it is. And they are challenging moves, they have to go on a big truck and to get them out of an urban area like Kelowna that also involves moving light standards and overhead wires."
Photo credit: Renewal Development
This house on Welke Road in Kelowna is slated for demolition.
Thus said, the local development community is entrepreneurial, according to Smith, and many homes are deconstructed so concrete and wood and other materials can be recycled or reused.
"While we don't necessarily have laws in place, we are happy to consider different ideas and work with developers and property owners who are interested in relocation and recycling," said Smith.
Renewal and Light House estimates that 20% of the homes being torn down in Kelowna are in good to excellent condition and could be relocated and repurposed in other communities that desperately need housing.
It's estimated a further 40 to 60% of homes slated for demolition can be deconstruction and materials salvaged and reused in construction and renovations.
Photo credit: Renewal Development
This house is being relocated from North Vancouver to Squamish Nation to be used as emergency housing.
An average 2,000-square-foot house generates about 100 metric tonnes of demolition debris, so relocating it or salvaging materials for reuse means it's spared from ending up at the dump.
The City of Victoria has a demolition and deconstruction bylaw that imposes a $19,500 refundable deposit that requires 40 kilograms of wood be salvaged per square metre of finished floor space.
BC Housing requires construction, renovation and demolition waste reduction and diversion from landfills for all the subsidized housing projects that receive a majority of funding from the provincial Crown corporation.
Parks Canada requires all government-owned buildings slated for demolition to be pre-assessed for building relocation or deconstruction.
Photo credit: Renewal Development
These three houses are being moved by barge from Port Moody to Sechelt to be lived in by members of the shishalh Nation that have been on the waiting list for homes.
"The demolition first paradigm must end," added Lewis.
"There are responsible alternatives to conventional demolition, be it home relocation or home deconstruction."
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