New gas station and car wash approved for downtown

On Monday, Kelowna city council approved a new gas station, convenience store and car wash near downtown Kelowna.

The new businesses will be constructed on a vacant lot stretching between Ethel and Graham Street along Clement Avenue.

Operating hours for the car wash will be 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. while the gas station will run from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m.

The extensive car wash can service a total of 16 vehicles at a time with both self-serving wash stalls and an automated wash.

City planners called the gas station relatively small, but did receive opposition from councilor Loyal Wooldridge due to the absence of any room for future electric car charging stations.

Councillor Gail Given commented that Clement Ave will eventually be widened to four lanes and that an arterial roadway should require services such as a gas station.

However, councillor Mohini Singh also opposed the project, calling it a “tough call” but that ultimately gas stations belong on the highway.

Signage and lighting were called into question by councillor Luke Stack following letters from concerned residents living across Clement Ave.

The project’s developer took the podium to address the issue, assuring council the signage is facing away from the neighbourhood, is low to the ground and relatively small.

With the subject property already zoned “I4 - Central Industrial” the development did not require a public hearing.