Kelowna

February 22.

That's the day Kelowna City Council will finally get a chance to debate the merits of giving fourth and final reading to the controversial downtown re-development zone (CD21).

Debate may be a stretch.

Since the 2008 public hearing and subsequent first three reading of the CD21 zoning package, councillors have had to be careful what they say prior to fourth reading.

Between the passing of third reading and now, 16 months has passed, two elections held and five new councillors elected.

Council passed first three readings by a 6-3 vote, however, Councillor Andre Blanleil is the only council member left who voted in favour.

Councillors Colin Day, Carol Gran, Norm Letnick and Barrie Clark did not run in the last election while Brian Given passed away last summer.

The five new councillors have had to bite their tongue, unable to bring a fresh perspective to the debate.

The zoning package, which includes a four block area of downtown from the waterfront to Water Street and Harvey Avenue to Queensway, was in the hands of the Ministry of Transportation from the end of 2008 until just last month.

Mayor Sharon Shepherd asked staff to hold off bringing the document back to council until they were sure of having a full council. That date is February 22.

The mayor briefly touched on the issue Wednesday at her 'State of the City' address before the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce.

"It is of interest to a lot of people as to what the outcome will be," says Shepherd.

"When the municipal election took place a number of candidates used it as a platform and even in our recent by-election I know it came up by a number of the candidates. I couldn't tell you what the outcome of the debate will be."