Poles being moved from West Kelowna’s new wine trail sidewalk after complaints

WEST KELOWNA – The last thing you want find in the middle of a sidewalk would be a utility pole but that’s what West Kelowna got during the construction of the new wine trail on Boucherie Road and now it’s paying to fix it.

City of West Kelowna communications director Kirsten Jones confirmed a photo sent to local media complaining about the poles and design is accurate and steps have been taken to move the poles.

"The original design of this roadway was approved without underground utilities as the city was advised by B.C. Hydro that relocating the poles would add $2 million to the project, which was unaffordable,” Jones said in an email statement.

"Now that it is clear the location of the poles is not ideal, it is being rectified. Telus has agreed to move five of the nine affected poles,” she added.

"The remaining four will be dealt with through a slight re-design to the layout of the roadway/pedestrian infrastructure. The additional cost to the city to realign the sidewalk will be $8,000,” Jones said.

The complaint was pointed out in an email forwarded to local media by a group calling itself Audience Group criticizing the design errors and the cost of the wine trail as well as current mayor and council.

Approved in 2016, the wine trail project cost almost $9 million and is scheduled for completion in November.

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