New Kelowna cop shop a go

KELOWNA – The new RCMP detachment proposed for Kelowna has passed the city’s alternative approval process with flying colours.

The city can now borrow over $42 million to pay for the new Police Services Building in the city-owned vacant lot at Clement Avenue and Richter Street downtown.

Only 0.2 per cent of eligible voters in the city signed a petition against the project, which works out to 198 people.

To put that into perspective, to defeat the borrowing bylaw, 10 percent of electors or 9,484 residents would have had to sign the petition.

The APP closed late Friday afternoon.

The next step in the process happens at city council’s regular meeting on Monday, March 31, when the councillors will receive a Certificate of Sufficiency and advance the bylaw to borrow the money.

The current RCMP detachment on Doyle Avenue downtown has outlived its usefulness. The building, built about 50 years ago, is far too small to house the close to 500 officers and civilian employees who currently work there.

The new building will be about 90,000 square feet and is scheduled to open in 2017.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.