Kelowna wants input on how residents and amenities can live together

KELOWNA – Would you be comfortable with condos and commercial spaces cheek by jowl with the Okanagan Heritage Museum and the Kelowna Community Theatre?

That’s one of the ideas that has come out of the ongoing consultation over the so-called civic block, which includes those buildings and others in the area.

“We’ve had great input from the community into the civic block plan so far. Now we’re looking at options to add residential and commercial uses on a few key sites to increase activity in the area and help fund these improvements and we want more feedback from the community,” planning special Ross Soward said in a news release.

Support for mixed residential and commercial use emerged during previous consultation sessions. Adding them in could help pay for features such as a public plaza and performing arts centre, Soward said, but also have the potential to affect the character of the area with changes to building heights.

That’s why the city is conducting an online survey complete with maps showing the options for a residential component for the civic block. Residents have until August 29 to complete the survey.

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca

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