Kelowna - We're In Trouble

My wife and I were one of the poor souls that tried to endure the Council Meeting dealing with the Sarsons/Lakeshore development proposal. At 1 am, 6 hours after the council meeting began, we had to leave without having a chance to speak to the issue. Thoughts of a babysitter at home, as well as thoughts of only 5 hours of sleep, weakened our resolve to be heard. It also multiplied our frustration and anger.

The process is flawed – perhaps intentionally. The City issued a letter to local landowners which states “…Council will meet to hear and receive submissions…at 7PM…” Despite this being one of the most contentious issues the City has to deal with, the Sarsons project is not dealt with until 10pm. The City Planning department then spends ½ an hour justifying why it is supporting the proposal, despite violating its own OCP and Sector Plan. The developer’s representative spends another 20 minutes spinning their version of the facts. Then near 11 o’clock after hearing nothing but how great the project is for an hour, the mayor states that any other parties wishing to be heard will be allotted 5 minutes each. Despite the attrition of speakers due to the time of night and the heat in the room, (where was the air-conditioning), by 1 am there were still many, many parties wishing to speak, and my wife and I were forced to leave – unheard and angry.

Kelowna is in trouble. The trouble stems from the fact that City Council is not listening to local community associations and is acting unilaterally to implement decisions that are often in opposition to the local wishes. This Council pays little heed to an Official Community Plan that it developed, and reviews projects on an ad-hoc basis. For those who have no experience dealing with various municipalities – this is not normal municipal behavior.

I have developed infill townhouse projects in Calgary, a shopping Centre in Edmonton, condominiums in Vancouver and single-family homes in Nanaimo. I have never seen such disrespect for an OCP in any City I have ever dealt with. An OCP is by and large a bible for most municipalities. It would only be amended if the local residents were strongly in favor. In addition local residents associations are seen as valuable resources, which in many cases literally screen projects prior to their submission to City Hall. Projects are very rarely approved without the consent of the local residents associations. In Kelowna the powers of the local associations are by and large irrelevant – though not through lack of effort by the locals.

The Council in Kelowna is so pro-development that I am shocked. All in the name of increased density. Being a new resident to Kelowna, (1 year), I am unaware of how or why the Council has taken this philosophical stance that the City needs to grow at all costs. Was there a referendum where the citizens decided that Kelowna needed to grow as fast as possible? Is there a race going on? Are we competing with another City for growth? Or is this an arbitrary decision make by the current Council without support of the citizens of Kelowna.

I was flabbergasted to see the Planning Department support the 3 storey apartment building in the Sarsons/Lakeshore proposal by using the logic that “…we lost the potential for Multi-Family” in other areas of Mission. The Planning Department of Kelowna was telling us that it was unfortunate that parcels like the Hobson lands at Lysons/Metcalfe were not developed as Multi-Family. (Hard to believe, as this is one of the most beautiful subdivisions in BC). The Planning Department suggested that due to the “lost potential” of these other sites that they support an even higher than envisioned density on the Sarsons site. A catch up project shall we say. Perhaps a high-rise? Sounds ridiculous, but according to City planning there is no height restriction on RM3 zoning, only a restriction on floor space.

The City should be a neutral body, which screens projects on the basis of the benefit to the existing community. This Council is not neutral. It is hell bent on developing this City for the benefit of some future population that is going to arrive over the next 20 years. Guess what – just because 200,000 new people may want to live in Kelowna doesn’t mean you are required to destroy the character of the City to enable them to move here. I chose to live here because of the modest size of the City. I don’t want to live in a City the size of Edmonton.

City Hall – Wake Up. Listen to your citizen groups. Listen to your own OCP. Don’t trifle with democracy. Believe it or not the local community groups have an opinion that is in most cases much more in touch than your own.

R.D.