The design for Campbell River’s new Hyundai dealership, proposed for the corner of the Island Highway and Meredith Road, came under fire from city staff this week.
The dealership will be one of the first in Canada to carry the company’s newest design, but it’s a look that city staff don’t approve of.
Chris Osborne, city planner, said the look is different from the one that city council approved on June 24, and strays from the city’s Sustainable Official Community Plan (SOCP) guidelines.
“Staff would advise that design amendments that move further from, rather than closer to, the OCP’s (Official Community Plan) guidelines should not be encouraged,” Osborne wrote in a report to council. “This backwards design ‘creep’ serves to undermine much of the positive development that Campbell River has seen over the last year.”
Staff were particularly unhappy with the removal of a vertical tower splitting the middle of the building. Osborne noted that the tower satisfied the SOCP requirement that “rooftops should be punctuated by special features that enhance the skyline” in order to improve the effect of “large uninteresting buildings close to the highway.”
The new design also uses different colours. Hyundai is replacing the current blue colour scheme with bronze in an effort to distinguish itself from other dealerships. The new design will use metallic and earth tones in an effort to break away from primary colours typically used by other car dealerships.
Gary Thulin, applicant for the new Campbell River Hyundai dealership, told council at Tuesday night’s meeting that he strongly disagrees with city staff’s assessment of the new design.
“I think it depends on people’s interpretation of the SOCP,” said Thulin who has been involved in forming three of the city’s Official Community Plans. “We’re going from a stark white pattern to a very intense facia. As well, the lettering is of a chrome nature. The upright structure – (Hyundai) doesn’t have it in their design anymore.”
Thulin said he and Hyundai owner Scott Kilby have spent $25,600 on landscaping over and above what was originally proposed to the city. Thulin said all the brush and shrubs on the empty lot that fronts the highway have been cleared, and the surrounding banks have been hydroseeded.
“These improvements are over and above what we originally committed to,” Thulin said. “In our opinion, we have satisfied all aspects of the OCP and provided additional aesthetic appeal.”
Coun. Andy Adams said he would support the new design because he saw the issue as a matter of opinion.
“I want to recognize what staff are trying to do with the recommendations in the SOCP but what I see with the plan...is we’ve got a national marketing, branding and design team that has come up with something, in my view, that does fit with the SOCP,” Adams said. “I think it’s in the eyes of the beholder. I think it’s subjective and I think they’ve got a good plan going forward.”
Coun. Kerr was also supportive of Hyundai’s efforts, saying it was over and above his expectations. Council in the end approved the new design.