No vision for future
Dear editor: One of the most important responsibilities of being in municipal government is approving development, fitting it into the underground service lines, fitting it into the road network along with a clear vision as to how the city should accommodate its growth. Having a clear vision as to how you think the city should be, not today but 20 years from today.
Sad to say my observation of this council’s approval of development and growth has achieved none of those objectives. With their approval of some development over their term I predict they have and will create major problems in the future of this city.
Take the approval of the Casino into the parking area for the SOEC, the curling club and Memorial Arena. They have created major problems not just for the SOEC but for the Visitors Centre as well, who it seems will never recover what they once had, a high-profile corner for visitors.
The latest request for this facility supports this bad decision. This council’s decision on the casino location, has burdened the taxpayers with unforeseen costs (Herald, Nov. 9).
Council now have put forward in the 2018 budget, $2.1 million to upgrade the 300 block of Main Street. At the same meeting, council approved an extension of the Economic Investment Zone 2017, By Law 2017-74, through to December 2019.
This bylaw exempts all new construction in the downtown core from paying taxes on the building but not the land for up to 10 years. I am opposed to this bylaw, because the city will never catch up on that lost property tax revenue. Forgiveness of taxes does not encourage development, the market does. Go figure.
Council have also asked put forward a proposed expansion of city boundaries on the southeast corner through the alternate approval process, a cost-saving way of avoiding a democratic vote. Council are promoting that this expansion will add approximately $170,000 to the city's annual tax base. Questionable?
I am opposed to this expansion for two reasons. Firstly, no expansion of a city’s boundaries should be approved through an AAP, it should be taken forward as a referendum question at the municipal elections. Second reason, this proposed expansion takes the city boundaries into a forestry interface. This puts the residential development into a high risk fire area
For those reasons alone, any expansion of a city’s boundaries should go to referendum at the time of the municipal elections. Jake Kimberley
Penticton