To the editor:
I am writing to let you know that Mayor Colin Basran replied to my letter showing that last week’s council decision to abandon OCP 2040 Growth Scenario 3 in favour of Growth Scenario 2.5 has a public cost impact of at least $12 to $14 million.
From from the mayor’s reply, he clearly has no interest in revisiting last week’s decision despite the public costs and impacts to taxpayers.
The mayor’s letter raises questions about council’s lack of public accountability, transparency and responsibility to taxpayers. At the very least the mayor should ask staff to check into this matter to ensure council has made the right decision.
I can only assume council is mishandling this file and that my cost estimates are correct until proven otherwise.
At this point, council appears to have made a costly decision not to support their preferred OCP 2040 growth strategy with an economic impact assessment. They made their decision despite the fact it creates the framework for Kelowna’s future OCP land use designations, transportation options, infrastructure servicing, capital cost allocations and public policies to year 2040. The growth strategy is the keystone step in the OCP planning process and council needs to get it right for the plan to work and to address the issue of their looming $478 million infrastructure deficit.
I trust you will publish a story in your paper to inform taxpayers that council’s abandonment of OCP 2040 Growth Scenario 3 is a matter of urgent public interest and has very real and tangible long-term public cost and taxation impacts. Importantly, taxpayers should also know that council intends to keep them in the dark and has no interest in making those costs and tax impacts public.
Richard Drinnan
Kelowna