West Kelowna says it needs help meeting provincial housing targets

Photo: Colin Dacre-file

The City of West Kelowna is lagging behind its first year, provincially imposed, housing targets.

In order to realize those targets, council says it needs help from the same government that imposed those targets.

“I struggle with the housing targets. It’s going to be difficult to meet that expectation,” said Coun. Stephen Johnston, speaking on the city’s six-month check in.

“When we grow as a community, it’s not just about ramming housing into every nook and cranny that’s available.

“We want to do so intentionally, we want to make sure we are upgrading infrastructure at a rate that supports that growth.

And, with West Kelowna being a desired location, it will take time and money to get the needed projects done.

“Real dollars and investment here will go a long way in investing in our infrastructure to make sure we hit these housing targets. I am hoping the province comes to the table on some things.”

The province imposed a housing target of 2,266 net new housing units by July 31, 2029. That includes units issued occupancy permits minus any units lost to demolition.

The city’s first year target is 289, however, the net gain over the first six months is just 64, which includes 100 new units less 36 lost to demolition.

“The majority of the new units were single family, duplexes and townhomes followed by secondary suites and carriage houses,” long-range planning manager Brittany Nichols told council Tuesday.

Of the 36 demolitions, 27 were manufactured homes from the Shady Acres mobile home park and nine single family homes associated with the McDougall Creek wildfire.

Mayor Gord Milsom says staff and council have done a very good job of building a strong foundation from which to work from, including the city’s newly-minted Official Community Plan.

“We’ve done the planning, we’ve identified where the growth will hopefully be in our urban centres and in our neighbourhood centres, but we need some help,” said Milsom.

“We need help with our infrastructure, we need help with our firefighters for tall buildings, eventually a new egress (Glenrosa), pipes in the ground, transit, transportation.

“Until we have the infrastructure in those key areas there is going to be uncertainty. From a development point of view, who is going to pay for that if it’s not in place.

“We need to continue to advocate for some assistance, for money to pay for this infrastructure.”

Coun. Jason Friesen brought up the issue of rapid development on Westbank First Nation lands, pointing to large apartment projects along Carrington Road and the massive Westrich Bay development along Okanagan Lake.

Friesen said the city is unique in having WFN lands with the "larger community boundary.”

“Ultimately, if the market is saturated and it all happens to occur within Westbank First Nation, developers aren’t going to build within West Kelowna proper.

“How do we address that before the province comes in and tries to be heavy handed?”

Director of community development Brent Magnan said the issue has been brought up but the conversation to date has been one-sided.

“We have responded to say these are our concerns in writing when the original order came down,” said Magnan.

“We didn’t receive a response on that. Our plan has been that if, and when, it comes to the point where we aren’t meeting our targets and there is a conversation with the province, that will weigh heavily into our position as to why we are not necessarily in control of developing units and we are heavily reliant on our neighbouring community.”