Opposition stronger than city willing to accept

Editor:

City of Kelowna staff have acknowledged there were an additional 91 letters received in opposition to the rezoning of parkland at the foot of Queensway to accommodate Tourism Kelowna’s new building.

Since these were received prior to the narrow time frame the city allowed for submissions, they were not added to the official total of 202 letters of opposition. I would suggest that 293 is a significant number.

By comparison in 2013, the council of the day received 69 letters of opposition to building the tourist centre in City Park and it was stopped dead.

Fast forward to 2017, today’s council took a nanosecond to consider all the opposing views and approved third reading to amend the official community plan and rezone the property from park to major institutional, solely to accommodate the proposed visitor centre.

It is interesting to note that in 2007, this same parcel was placed in the P-3 parks on the basis “this is what the land was intended for.”

The lease to Tourism Kelowna provides some interesting reading. It is a sweet deal like no other.

Tourism Kelowna gets a 29-year lease for $50 and at Tourism Kelowna’s sole discretion they can have the City (Kelowna Taxpayers) assist with financing.

The Tourism Kelowna budget shows a deficit of $50,000 for visitor centre development.

Not the strongest financial balance sheet. Coincidentally, the same council quietly agreed to increase the room tax that goes to Tourism Kelowna by 50 per cent from two to three per cent.

Gord Marshall, Kelowna