Developers should pay for amenities, as well as infrastructure

Dear Editor:

I am thankful for Al Janusas’s letter to the editor entitled “Developers don’t do their share” published July 2 in The Daily Courier.

My husband and I also attended the KLO Neighbourhood Association meeting last week. We were surprised to learn that our city does not collect community amenity contributions (CACs) from real estate developers.

The city does collect development cost charges, which pay for public services that their new building residents will be using, like roads, sewers, parks, etc. In other words, DCC can be used for only purchasing the new land and have it designated to be a future park.

Most cities in B.C. and Canada also collect community amenity contributions (CACs) fees from developers, which deliver finished parks to those communities.

Can you just imagine how much completed parks/money the city could have collected in this current frenzy of developments in every part of the city?

A good example of an undeveloped park is the one at Cedar Avenue which has remained undeveloped for more than 20 years.

The city purchased six waterfront properties and to this day they are still rented.

Years later, the city finally changed the zoning for these six properties to parkland.

The city then allowed the paddle cub to take over one of the houses and set up a club and nothing more has been done since then.

The city’s position is that there is no money to develop the park and it has even suggested the KLO Neighborhood Association should try and raise the funds.

The Capri-Landmark area now has a development master plan, which helps guide both the city and developers how best to develop the area, which will meet everyone’s needs.

We who live in south Kelowna should lobby our politicians to have a master plan for the KLO/Pandosy area prepared.

Right now, it appears development permits are being granted on a “hodgepodge” basis.

Also the city should start implementing CACs for all current and future developments now.

With all the development being built in and around the KLO/Pandosy area, it is hard to understand why the Cedar park has not been developed.

I for one, plan to lobby the city and council. Please join me in getting these changes done.

Marie Baigent, Kelowna