West Kelowna council postpones Glenrosa water reservoir expansion until 2019

WEST KELOWNA – The expansion of the Glenrosa water reservoir won’t begin until at least 2019, after council agreed to delay the project at Tuesday's council meeting.

City staff recommended council cancel the tender for the project, after the project was costed over $1 million over the original budget.

“The City had set aside $1.8 million for the reservoir, but after design changes and other items that were required, the price totaled just under $3 million,” said the City of West Kelowna engineering manager Rob Hillis. “In order to complete the project, we would essentially have to borrow money from ourselves.”

According to Hillis, by waiting, the City has more time to collect development funds for the project.

“I’m concerned about this, essentially it’s pushing it off to another council’s decision,” said Coun. Carol Zanon at the meeting. “Waiting doesn’t mean we’re going to luck out and things will be cheaper two years from now.”

Zanon also expressed concerns about future demand in the area due to current developments.

“I feel like there’s so many developments involved here, all in Glenrosa,” she said. “I would hate to see that by trying to be frugal, that we jeopardize the timeline of all these independent projects.”

The only councillor opposed to canceling the tender was Councillor Zanon.

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