Photo: Greater Westside Board of Trade

Residents surrounding West Kelowna’s Green Bay have overwhelmingly approved dredging of the bay.

A petition of the 38 affected property owners was circulated over the last month. According to the Community Charter, more than half of the property owners representing more than half of the assessed property value would have to agree for the local area service agreement to go ahead.

A report being brought forward to council shows 33 of the 38 property owners representing $68.4 million in assessed value signed the petition. That works out to nearly 90 per cent of residents and assessed value.

Council will now be asked to give first three readings to authorize the dredging of the bay and the loan authorization bylaw to pay for the project.

It’s expected to cost about $950,000 which will be paid for by the affected residents.

They will have the ability to pay the full amount up front or over the length of the loan repayment, expected to be 20 years.

Residents of the Green Bay neighbourhood have asked for the dredging work to take place to improve the navigable channel for safe boat access.

They say the bay has become too shallow for safe boat navigation during periods of low water and during the boating shoulder seasons.