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City Hall
Kelowna church asks for noise bylaw exemption for bell-ringing marathon
KELOWNA - If Kelowna city council gives the okay, the bell at The Cathedral Church of St. Michael and All Angels will toll over 1,000 times, once for each of the missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada. The church is asking the city to temporarily set aside its noise bylaw beginning 11:30 a.m. on...
Kelowna man says police arrested him for nudity they had tolerated many times before
KELOWNA - A Kelowna man says RCMP, anxious to keep a lid on the party scene at Mushroom Beach, arbitrarily arrested him for public nudity after walking by ignoring the sunbathers many times before. Mushroom Beach is the nickname for what the city calls the Lake Avenue beach access and has become increasingly popular with...
Gymnastics society stretching for more room in Vernon
VERNON - A local gymnastics society is hoping a partnership with the city will lead to a bigger, better centre for Vernon youth in the next few years. The North Valley Gymnastics Society was founded in 1993 and for a long time ran its programs out of the Beairsto Elementary School gym. In 2004, issues...
Ethel Street cycle track separates bikes from cars and pedestrians
KELOWNA - A determined cycist could cover the first phase of the Ethel Street active transportation corridor in about two minutes but the construction of a new cycle track between Bernard Avenue and Saucier Avenue will be welcomed by local cyclists. Construction on the corridor begins this month and will continue in phases until 2020...
Knox Mountain disc golfers score deal with city
KELOWNA - If disc golf is gaining popularity as a sport it’s because of guys like Ryan Derksen. Despite the rain this week, the young man from Saskatchewan was chucking discs at far-off holes, enjoying a solo practice round at the Knox Mountain Park disc golf course. “I played in Calgary yesterday. Whenever I travel...
Community gardens get big green thumbs up in Kelowna
KELOWNA - Better support for community gardens, both public and private, can happen if there is a better understanding of what food security means for the community. City staff hope to provide a better understanding by amending the food security policy in the official community plan and the zoning bylaw. “This is turning a landscape...
City changes targets after failing to meet greenhouse gas targets
KELOWNA - Despite the many efforts made by the city to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions and those of its citizens, Kelowna is a long way off the target it set for itself in 2007. That’s when Kelowna signed on to the B.C. Climate Action Charter and pledged by 2017 to reduce greenhouse gases...
Experimental affordable housing in Kelowna could mix industrial with residential
KELOWNA – City planners want to see how mixing residential housing with light industrial will…
Property tax exemption? How do I get me one of those?
KELOWNA - It's hard to see what Valley First Credit Union in Rutland, the yet-to-be-built luxury Westcorp hotel near Kerry Park and the newly-rebuilt Kelowna Yacht Club might have in common. But what links them is all are either eligible or have already received a ten-year property tax holiday under Kelowna’s revitalization tax exemption bylaw,...
City policy changes aimed at stopping double-dipping shoe box suite developers
KELOWNA - Concerns about micro suites and their impact on City of Kelowna finances, plus how and where they are built, are raised in a new report by city staff. City planner Ryan Roycroft says the city has already foregone $1.7 million in development cost charges for the 315 so-called shoe box suites which have...
How far the City of Kelowna must go to get commuters out of cars
KELOWNA - Forget bike to work week; this is just one of 52 weeks in a larger year-around social engineering campaign to change your mindset on getting from A to B that will hopefully reduce our overall need to engineer new roads and bridges. And in the Central Okanagan, that's no small task which probably...
‘Free until three’ promotion aimed at bringing people downtown Vernon
VERNON - A new promotion allowing people to park free from noon until 3 p.m. on Fridays this summer is geared at creating a more inviting atmosphere downtown. The free parking will be offered in the lead-up to the Avenue Market, which runs on Fridays from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Main Street (30...
Kelowna to consider bid for 2019 seniors games
KELOWNA - Staff are recommending the City of Kelowna spend $115,000 in a bid to host the 2019 55+ B.C. Games. In a report to council, event development supervisor Mariko Siggers says community support for the bid is solid, the facilities already exist and the return on investment will amount to at least $2 million...
Conservatory dream dies, strip mall could rise from the ashes
KELOWNA - When the Conservatory was first proposed 15 years ago on the corner of Glenmore Drive, the high-end seniors housing project was big news. Original plans called for twin towers containing some 1,200 strata units with commercial space and a two-acre indoor tropical garden housed in a glass-walled atrium. Somewhere along the way that...
City puts cash behind Strong Neighbourhoods program
KELOWNA - Strong neighbourhoods make for strong towns and cities; that’s the basic premise behind a new program launched by the City of Kelowna and they are putting some cash behind it. It’s early days but Strong Neighbourhoods hopes to tap into growing evidence that getting to know your neighbours is good for your physical...
Restaurant competition heats up in downtown Kelowna
KELOWNA - So you wanna open a restaurant in Kelowna? Better bring your A-game because there’s a lot of competition. BNA Brew Co. is just the latest on the scene with its 8,000 square feet location in a historic former warehouse next to Flashbacks nightclub on Ellis Street. “We’re a restaurant that brews its own...
Accepting gifts a potential minefield for city councillors
KELOWNA - When is it acceptable for a Kelowna city councillor to accept a gift and when is it not? That is the question city staff are currently looking to clarify. “We had a conversation about what constitutes a gift and what doesn’t and what the disclosure requirements are,” city clerk Stephen Fleming says. Rules...
New name and price approved for Memorial Parkade
KELOWNA - Despite a jump in final price to more than $19 million for the Memorial Parkade, Kelowna city councillors had little say about the increase. Instead, what little debate councillors had was centred around the aesthetics of the 6.5-storey structure, slated to begin construction this summer in time for completion next summer. Coun. Luke...
Pot protesters call for mass phone-in to Kelowna mayor
KELOWNA - With the tang of marijuana smoke in the air, anti-cannabis prohibition activist Dana Larsen lead a protest outside City Hall this afternoon against what he says are Kelowna’s outdated bylaws regulating medical marijuana dispensaries. “Let’s help show Kelowna council they do have an option, they have the option to follow the Vancouver model...
City of Kelowna chooses contractor for new cop shop
KELOWNA - The city has chosen Bird Design-Build Construction as the primary contractor for the new RCMP police services building to be built at Clement Avenue and Richter Street in Kelowna. The contract is valued at $39 million and calls for the Calgary-based construction company to shepherd the specialized police services building through the planning...
Cost of new downtown Kelowna parkade on the rise
KELOWNA - The number of parking stalls planned for the city’s latest downtown parkade has jumped but so has the price tag. In a report to council, director of infrastructure Allan Newcombe says capacity of the new parkade will jump from 438 stalls under the original proposal to 566 stalls. The original budget of $15.83...
Shipping containers, coffee cart could stay the summer downtown Vernon
VERNON - A pop-up shipping container art gallery and coffee vendor could stay the summer if they get permission from City Hall. That’s why the Vernon Public Art Gallery has asked the City of Vernon to extend its license agreement for the temporary steel shipping container structure at the bus loop downtown, across from Cenotaph...
Lots and plots predicted to be hot commodity at Kelowna Cemetery
KELOWNA - A consultant has identified one particular housing market segment in Kelowna where demand is only going to go up and where the city can eventually make some serious money — cremation lots and burial plots. Current inventory at the city-owned Kelowna Memorial Park cemetery is predicted to run out within eight years. The...
Kelowna property tax increase comes in lower than originally planned
KELOWNA - It’s not much, but homeowners in Kelowna will be happy to hear the property tax increase for 2015 will be a bit less than originally planned. Adjustments to the final budget will see an official tax increase of 3.2 per cent, down from the 3.46 per cent established in the provisional budget submitted in...