Read The Downtown Plan

Great letter D.T. At first it made me very mad and then it got me thinking. I suspect there are a lot of people like D.T. who don't know why some of us are upset by the direction of this project. So here is my attempt to clarify some of my concerns.

In 1999, the Downtown Plan was written. This was done after many months of meetings and work by a lot of very well respect business people.

I encourage everyone to visit the City of Kelowna web site, you can do so at http://city.kelowna.bc.ca if you click on transportation and then click on Roads Task Force you may scroll down and click on the Downtown Plan.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, the cover of this 131 page document I think says a lot about how a great number of business minds think this City should be developed downtown. Look at the names on the page of Acknowledgments people like Robert Fine Executive Director of the Economic Development Commission, 6 members of the Downtown Kelowna Association including Lorna Gunn and Peter Schultz, Dave Rush (who at the time was President of the Chamber of Commerce) and Lindsay Webster of the Urban Development Institute just to name a few.

The Executive Summary of this document is worth reading in part it says "The Downtown Plan while recognizing the imperative of immediate and short-term initiatives is a long-term approach to the rejuvenation of the Plan area".

I am not against development but what I am against is throwing out a document that the City of Kelowna commissioned and only adopted in 2000! A great deal of thought went into developing the zones for different building heights. Basically lower close to the lake and higher as we move east so that there is incentive to develop the whole downtown not just the lakefront.

We do need to densify downtown. We just need to do it in a way that is beneficial to all the residents, not just those fortunate enough to live on the lake.

I ask you to please look at what is being proposed now and what the vision of some very prominent business people was a couple of years ago. Which City would you rather live in?

Personally I guess you know the one I want!

-Wayne Pierce