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John Zeger Growth and Sustainability Conflict

At the recent open house on the Kelowna 2030 Official Community Plan, city planners showed an unusual degree of insight that I have not seen from them in the more than six years since I have moved to this city. On one of the display boards was an admission that Kelowna’s future population growth will make the challenge of achieving environmental sustainability much more difficult. The board stated that because of the presence of an additional 32,000 people by the year 2020, residents will need t… Continue

Added by John Zeger on November 11, 2009 at 10:45am — No Comments

John Zeger The problem with the Hubs and Spokes option for the OCP 2030

In its continuing work on developing the 2030 Official Community Plan, the City of Kelowna planning department has generated a refined land use scenario based on the Hubs and Spokes option which was most favoured by the public but also including other popular elements. While this option has some desirable features, more work still needs to be done to make this latest scenario acceptable. Anyone who has participated in the OCP 2030 planning process knows that the Hubs and Spokes option calls for… Continue

Added by John Zeger on June 24, 2009 at 11:00am — No Comments

John Zeger Kelowna's unemployment rate soars as boom turns to bust

It was reported that Kelowna’s unemployment rate shot up in May to 11.5% being one of the highest in B.C. and well above both the provincial and national rates of 7.6% and 8.4%, respectively. Mayor Sharon Shepherd attributes this leap in the number of unemployed to a sharp slowdown in building activity and the fact that about one in four jobs locally is related to the construction industry. So much for Economic Development Commission Chairman Robert Fine’s claim that the local economy has been s… Continue

Added by John Zeger on June 8, 2009 at 8:11pm — No Comments

John Zeger City promotes high-density growth options without addressing their adverse impact on livability

The next phase of the Kelowna OCP 2030 and the associated public survey that is being conducted (www.kelowna2030.ca) deals with evaluating the final four land use scenarios that have been generated by city planners and consultants. The primary difference among these four scenarios is the urban densities that are being proposed for the city’s urban centres, in particular the downtown and surrounding area, where the possible densities range from a small increase from what currently exists to a nea… Continue

Added by John Zeger on May 24, 2009 at 9:41am — No Comments

John Zeger Response to Steve Graham's letter to the editor on Castanet (May 16, 2009)

In his letter “Reducing Urban Sprawl” Steve Graham makes the logical errors that most people who support continued growth through increasing residential densities (also known as “smart growth”) make, as the premises on which his argument is based are flawed. And if a conclusion rests on false premises, then that conclusion is false. Mr. Graham’s first premise is that “population growth is a natural and important part of the economy” so therefore it either should continue or is inevitable. Grant… Continue

Added by John Zeger on May 16, 2009 at 12:00pm — No Comments

John Zeger Kelowna the best mid-size city?

In March, Daily Courier reporter Steve MacNaull wrote that, in delivering her annual State of the City address, Mayor Sharon Shepherd stated that Kelowna had “a quality of life second to none.” Although the Mayor’s did not make the claim in her 2009 address as she did in 2008 that Kelowna was “the best mid-sized city in Canada,” the issue of how Kelowna’s quality of life compares to that of other Canadian cities has been put on the table. Every year MoneySense magazine ranks Canadian cities in… Continue

Added by John Zeger on May 14, 2009 at 12:31pm — No Comments

John Zeger Does density equal sustainability?

The next phase of the Kelowna OCP 2030 on which the public is being surveyed deals with the issue of population density. Although the City wants to appear to be unbiased in its collection of public opinion, it is obvious from a read of this survey that the public is being not so gently nudged towards agreeing with the proposition that increasing residential densities will result in a more sustainable city and that the denser the city becomes, the more sustainable it will be. But in reality, noth… Continue

Added by John Zeger on May 14, 2009 at 12:30pm — No Comments

John Zeger Aquilini Highrise Approved by Stealth

I am very disturbed by Kelowna City Council’s recent decision to approve the application for a 27 storey building (a 12 storey height addition on top of 15 storeys that were already allowable under the existing zoning) at the site owned by Aquilini Development on the 400 block of Bernard Avenue. It is preposterous to treat a proposal to increase the height of a building by 77 percent as a routine application for a height variance as if it was only an additional one or two storeys being requested… Continue

Added by John Zeger on April 25, 2009 at 7:09pm — No Comments

John Zeger Graeme James hypocritical on the ALR

When Kelowna City Councillor Graeme James ran as a candidate last fall on the issue of protecting agricultural land in the city, I thought he was creating a false issue as there are adequate protections in place to preserve agricultural land, specifically the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR). How surprised I was then to learn that at a recent city council meeting at his first opportunity to voice an opinion on whether to continue to protect some viable agricultural land in the case of the Stober… Continue

Added by John Zeger on April 25, 2009 at 6:30pm — No Comments

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