New year shaping up to be as busy as 2025 for Kelowna, says mayor

Mayor looks back at 2025

Happy New Year, Kelowna. I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season and was able to spend time with family, friends and loved ones.

There is something special about Kelowna at this time of year. Whether it’s the Tree of Hope glowing or families skating at Stuart Park under the glow of the new Christmas tree, the holidays —and our personal traditions—remind us why this community is such a wonderful place to call home.

In 2025, Kelowna made significant investments in our community, with more than 131 capital projects underway representing more than $150 million in infrastructure investment. The work included breaking ground on the new Parkinson Recreation Centre, advancing new community centres in Glenmore, Mission and Rutland, moving forward with 23 park projects citywide, opening the Bertram multi-use overpass and completing the Chute Lake Road and Kane and Valley Road roundabouts. Additionally, the city announced two new roundabouts on Springfield Road.

He city also broke ground on the Glenmore protective services campus, including a new fire hall and permanent home for Central Okanagan Search and Rescue, started construction on a new youth recovery centre, established an economic prosperity task force and advanced plans for a new performing arts centre.

Kelowna issued more than 1,700 building permits and more than 4,000 occupancy permits throughout 2025, helping deliver new homes for young families, seniors and people building their future in Kelowna.

It hosted major events like the Montana’s Brier and the Canadian Country Music Association Awards, bringing more than $30 million in economic impact to the community.

Together, all this positive work reflected the continued momentum on council’s priorities. A full summary of the work is available through council’s priority progress report. Council’s priority progress report.

At the same time, as we enter 2026, we know there is far more work to do.

Over the past several weeks, I have heard directly from some downtown business owners who face incidents of crime, vandalism and disorder affecting their staff and customers. What they are experiencing is unacceptable. No one should feel unsafe opening their business, going to work or spending time in our city’s core. That is why the city is taking immediate steps to strengthen coordinated safety and enforcement efforts in our urban centres.

The focus is ensuring business owners, staff and customers can safely access storefronts and workplaces, particularly during the morning and evening hours.

Improving visibility, consistency and on-the-ground presence is essential to supporting employees and protecting the vitality and economic prosperity of our urban centres—ensuring they are places where people feel safe to visit, shop and start a business.

In the weeks ahead, in partnership with CMHA, we will launch CRCL Kelowna, a mobile, community-based crisis response service for people experiencing a mental health or substance-use crisis. This will free up police officers to focus on crime and safety-related calls.

Public safety has been a priority for council since day one of this term and these initiatives build on the actions currently underway.

In 2025, we strengthened our front lines by adding new RCMP officers, firefighters, and bylaw enforcement officers, welcomed a new officer-in -harge at the Kelowna RCMP detachment and appointed the city’s first dedicated community safety liaison in Rutland.

We also invested in treatment and recovery, including expanding transitional housing across the city and our social development team continued to work alongside service providers to better coordinate resources.

Those efforts are beginning to make a difference. While crime has declined statistically over the past several years, I know those improvements do not always reflect what is being experienced on the ground and that is where our focus must remain.

That is why, alongside council, I will host a business community forum on public safety in early February. The forum will provide an opportunity to hear directly from business owners, better understand their concerns and work together on both immediate local solutions and long-term strategies.

While there is important work we can, and must, do locally, we also recognize these challenges are not unique to Kelowna. In September, I stood on the steps of the B.C. Legislature alongside mayors from across the province who are experiencing these same pressures in their communities.

Municipalities were not designed, or given the tools, to manage the impacts chronic repeat crime and untreated mental health and addictions have on our streets. That is why we will continue to press senior partners such as provincial and federal governments and Interior Health to step up with the tools, resources and systemic changes needed to address the root causes of these issues.

Public safety affects everyone and council will continue working relentlessly with businesses, residents and service providers on local solutions while advocating for the changes Kelowna needs to see.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to speak up and share their experiences. Your voices matter and they are helping guide the actions we are taking now, and will take in the months ahead, to make Kelowna a safer place for everyone.

We know that 2026, like 2025, will be a busy year and will once again showcase our city in the national spotlight. As Kelowna continues to shine, we want to ensure these opportunities help grow economic prosperity for the entire community.

Tom Dyas is the mayor of Kelowna.