once lush and landscaped became overrun with six-foot-tall weeds throughout the year.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe decision was two-fold at the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Councillors wanted to both shave costs from the budget and put pressure on the province to take on a task they reasoned were being “downloaded” onto the city, leaving once-manicured highway entrances to be overrun by weeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The move was short-sighted, according to Coun. Nancy Bepple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The city asked to beautify the entrances to our city…I do not think when a city asks to take on something, should you use the term ‘downloading,'” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bepple said that the province asked the city to remove irrigation and trees from Crown land if it is not being used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When council cut the expense, it saved $120,000 from the 2026 budget. Two-thirds of that would have gone toward seasonal workers who weren’t hired back this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The next council will be asked to put that money back in the 2027 budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, council put off any decision to increase funding toward a number of other measures to deal with overgrown weeds in alleys and along local streets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The responsibility is on homeowners, but Coun. Margot Middleton suggested the bureaucratic process behind bylaw complaints is too long to have any effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Parks and streets manager Jeff Putnam said city staff have a 200-call backlog for overgrown weeds and trees at any given time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“It looks unkempt. It looks dead and it’s a fire hazard.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":426,"featured_media":7569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"guid":"","source":"","byline":"","published":"","updated":"","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1285,492,493],"tags":[],"region":[206,207,208,209],"class_list":["post-7568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local","category-topnews","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/7568\/kamloops-council-takes-u-turn-on-highway-weed-management\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Kamloops council takes U-turn on highway weed management","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/7568\/kamloops-council-takes-u-turn-on-highway-weed-management\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/7568\/kamloops-council-takes-u-turn-on-highway-weed-management\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/inwheels-highland-drive-doucet.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/inwheels-highland-drive-doucet.png"},"articleSection":"Featured","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Levi Landry"}],"creator":["Levi Landry"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNwheels","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-09-22T23:31:06Z","datePublished":"2026-09-22T23:31:06Z","dateModified":"2026-09-22T23:31:09Z"},"rendered":"