Kelowna’s Tower Ranch area ticked off with speeders

Residents living along Tower Ranch Boulevard have had enough of excessive speeders in their neighbourhood.

“The problems are tradespeople screaming up and down that road,” said John Durkin, with the Tower Ranch Community Association (TRCA). “Golfers that are late for their tee times. Dump trucks up and down all day, and I must say, sadly the residents themselves are part of the problem as well.”

Durkin made his comments during a public hearing Tuesday (May 31) dealing with rezoning to allow a 192-lot subdivision in the Tower Ranch neighbourhood. He said the problems will only get worse with more volume as Tower Ranch Blvd. is an extension of McCurdy Road.

“The problem we have right now is only going to get exacerbated by 192 new homes,” added Durkin. “I hope that council can get itself involved to help us get what we desperately think we need and that is adequate traffic calming along the boulevard.”

Durkin said the TRCA has worked with the city to find solutions such as installing speed bumps, having the speed limit reduced from 50 to 40 km/h, and installing speed reader boards. Durkin added he was told by staff that the road was too steep for speed bumps and the other requests were denied.

He suggested an onsite meeting with staff and the RCMP to try and find other solutions and indicated the TRCA would be willing to share in any costs. The TRCA currently maintains landscaping on Tower Ranch Blvd. which Durkin said the city owns, at a cost of $40,000 a year. Other residents raised concerns about construction traffic and noise, and work being done seven days a week.

Hazel Christy, representative for developer Parkbridge, told council the company is a member of the TRCA, attends meetings, and is willing to participate in any solutions. She added Parkbridge would also be looking to implement controls with contractors to try and alleviate stresses resulting from construction.

“They very much want to be a good neighbour,” added Christy.

Mayor Colin Basran empathized with residents and added he dealt with a similar situation in the Wilden neighbourhood.

“I can tell you it was a very frustrating undertaking trying to get things moved along because of the steep grades and various other things,” he said. “Even trying to get changes in my seat is frustrating. We will flag it and will have staff look into it.”

Councillor Gail Given put forth a motion that staff follow up on requests for potential solutions to the issues, which council approved.

“It’s difficult that residents feel they’ve gone down many, many different avenues and aren’t feeling a response,” said Given.

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