West Kelowna Results

As you may or not know- residential buildings permits fell by over 300% in just three years. With only 9 applicants in the first six months this year. The only construction happening is provincial funding for low cost condos.

West Kelowna council is not developer friendly- hence the rapid growth on WFN land.

Currently, the residents are concerned about their safety and the lack of safe roads- with many major roads being without sidewalks or street lights. Water is also top of mind- all the local lakes are tapped into so not really sure how much expansion could be achieved. Perhaps, Mother Nature will supply the water we need.

However, I have reached out to a company in Saskatchewan that specializes in large water storage systems. They could be integrated into our water treatment system.

I’m interested in any growth that won’t impact any increases to property taxes for our residents.

This might be the only solution to help stimulate growth.

In earlier life I was a realtor and worked with a home builder and he specialized in building houses that were very affordable, often cheaper than other homes on the market.

The key was to build 1000-1100 sq ft basement home with just a set of stairs going down from the kitchen to the ground. Finishes included the cheapest quality flooring available.

An unfinished basement- wired and plumbed for a suite.

Single carport- ashphalt driveway.

This is affordable housing and every one sold even before the shovels hit the ground

We need to convince our cities that not everyone can afford a dream home.

But there are many who want a new home that is affordable and can be developed as they can afford it.

Number one complaint about the city there is not been any significant construction activity in West Kelowna for years. They have eight planners! But yet the complaints continue.

The city has launched a new hub which is supposed to help track permits etc. have not heard anything about whether it works- but once elected it is high on my list.

This is a no brainer for me!

Not my city but I hear rumblings about high rises in Glenmore-Clifton.

This is a great option for developing as they most likely getting land at a reduced cost.

Don’t agree with it. Won’t happen in West Kelowna- current council shuts down many projects.

My previous comment applies here as well

The OCP should be reviewed annually and not referred to as the bible.

Every development permit application should be considered and evaluated before being shut down.

Far to often you hear about amazing projects and they get shut down without offering to work with a developer or person is willing to bring jobs and make the community better for everyone.

To many politicians with blinkers on.

West Kelowna has millions of DCC in the bank accounts and yet the biggest complaint is lack of infrastructure. Someone asked me doesn’t the city build sidewalks? I said it is because they are waiting to make the development companies pay for it.

I think West Kelowna do what it can but there are some very narrow minded people on Council it will take time.

But I believe we are currently stagnating.

Thanks for listening

I hope you get the support you need

There are two parts for me that make this vital to West Kelowna.

1) I have a concept of 'bringing back the 90's house', which is the modest family home. Around 2,200 square feet, 3 or 4 bedrooms, and a yard. A comfortable home for a family. In the Okanagan (or Canada for that matter) it shouldn't be that a new family has to raise a family in an apartment, or in a basement suite. I want to enable building of homes.

2) Now, how we actually do that is by reducing permitting times by publicly showing average permitting review times, which increases accountability in the city. We also work to review all non-required bylaws and permitting rules. I have spoken with many contractors and they say the rules in place make it unnecessarily difficult with no value add. Let's get rid of those and make it both easier and cheaper to build a home.

Growth is fine. Effective growth with a real plan is what I want. I feel as though a lot of the planning is reactive. In West Kelowna, a new development was approved and only months later the city realized there wasn't enough water to supply it. I believe we should have an effective plan for real growth that is proactive with water, sewer, roads, and general infrastructure. It doesn't make sense to me that a 6-story building would be approved, bringing a few hundred new people to an area, without improving an already congested road system. We can do multiple improvements at once and be ready for it.

I am 32 years old, and I have three children. While I own a half-duplex (with a massive mortgage), I would love to have a yard and a real house to raise my kids in. Unfortunately, that won't happen. I personally believe, there shouldn't be taxes on home building. I look at it the same as milk, fruit, vegetables, or meat at the grocery store, not candy or chocolate. Homes aren't "nice to have" items, so we shouldn't tax them; they are a requirement for life.

I previously outlined one item I would implement to increase accountability. I would also include the average time to adjust if documentation is missing (meaning how much more time a builder/owner can expect to wait if they forgot to include information in the permit submission) and the accuracy of the timeline, showing the standard deviation from the average. Tracking accuracy and real timelines allow the city to understand what is actually needed. Is it more staff? Maybe. Is it more accountability, also, maybe. The problem is no one knows and that's what we need to fix.

Yes, as previously stated, taxes on new homes is ridiculous. It's another money grab for no reason.

I would say yes/no to this question. Should the city use zoning to control the economic viability of housing/density in the city, yes. Should the city mandate lifestyle choices on people wanting to live in the Okanagan, no.

The question has the answer inside of it. "…infill multiplexes are not economically viable in much of the city." This means that in parts of the city, multiplexes and high-rises are viable in parts. So, yes, the city should have a real plan for density that makes sense from an economic standpoint and for people's lifestyle. That said, the city shouldn't try and control how someone lives; if someone wants to live in an apartment, great! If they want to live in a single-family home, awesome. People should have that choice, and financially, they should be able to make that choice, not forced.

Single-family homes is the preferred method of living in the Okanagan. That should be prioritized.

No explanation provided.

My answer is yes/no. Removing taxes on new homes will, as this survey suggests, reduce the cost of home building by upwards of 30%, plus I support the removal of GST, so an additional 5%. The question implies that growth should be a property tax increase for all residents across the city, and new homes and the people buying them should not bare that cost to the same extent (outside of the property taxes they will eventually pay). If a home costs $500,000 to build, based on the tax reductions I would prefer, the house-building cost drops by ~$150,000. I believe that is plenty to make housing much more affordable. This is all the "no" side of the question, I believe, if you want to live in a new community and buy a new home, you can help pay a greater portion of infrastructure improvements. A brand new suburb development provides almost no improvement for the average household as they won't go down those roads, use that water, or need the sewer improvements.

Now, the "yes" side of the coin is I would support a review of the actual hard costs passed onto new builds. I'm honestly not sure what percentage of a new home build that it adds, and if it is excessive, I would review that.

No explanation provided.

Development is a crucial part of our economy.

Investments in roads, water, sewer, and community amenities are fundamental to what local government does.

This one is a yes, but. As a new municipality West Kelowna has limited reserves and financial capacity to reduce fees and the costs associated with building new homes. Supports will need to be creative and supported by higher levels of government. An example is West Kelowna recently offering incentives for building in Westbank Centre using monies provided through a Federal grant program. I supported this initiative.

I have already been supportive of this and will continue to be.

This could be a substantial move towards housing attainability here in the Okanagan and across B.C..

City Hall should not force lifestyle choices onto people. We need a variety of housing forms to support housing attainability. Some housing forms may be more suited to one area of the community than an other but this is where the development community and City Hall need to work together. It is important that the OCP remains up-to-date and relevant to the needs of the community and those who call West Kelowna home.

Although we need to manage urban sprawl and the associated costs there are opportunities around West Kelowna for the permitting of undeveloped land. Here in West Kelowna, we need and can manage a blend of both in-fill and new development.

I will continue to do this in areas around the community where it is appropriate. Again, West Kelowna can manage a blend of both in-fill and new development of undeveloped lands, including beyond the current growth boundary.

Growth should pay for growth. However, here in West Kelowna, we have infrastructure deficits that also need to be addressed. It is one thing to say growth should pay for growth but growth should not pay for existing infrastructure deficits. I am always willing to ensure that DCC dollars are fair to all and not being used to pay for existing infrastructure deficits.

Development is a priority of my campaign. Housing construction and job creation are economic drivers.

I think it is absolutely imperative that we work with developers to lesson red tape and speed up building permits (time is money$) and reduce costly DCC fees that simply get passed on to the end user (homeowner) which just increases the cost of housing. Cities need to work with developers to build our urban centers and continue sustainable growth in neighborhoods that keeps up with infrastructure.

Yes, West Kelowna lacks urban centers both in Downtown Westbank and Boucherie Center. I will look to cut DCC's in these areas to support development and growth so West Kelowna can create housing, jobs, and opportunity for our community.

As seen in above I think the fees for development are out of control in BC. I voted strongly against ACC's as I thought it was ridiculous. We need to support development growth as this adds to a cities Tax base rather then double dipping on DCC's.

This is a major goal. Permits in West Kelowna take far to long 5-6 weeks. Even with development down over 80% permit speed has not picked up. I plan to action this very quickly with our new mayor. Time is money!

Lets agree, this just makes homes less affordable and drives prices up.

I would like to see true small lot housing. I would love to see us build 70's style split levels and BC Boxes. Car Ports instead of garages. No Suites and truly attainable single family homes.

No explanation provided.

Yes, we need to look at crown lands and begin the process of developing those for housing.

Yes, growth is imperative, our first mixed use downtown building is being built on Hoskins right now, this building will generate over 100k in property taxes annually, this is a perfect example of lowering barriers to build to allow the growth to pay for growth,

Would like to see as many mixed use 6 story buildings in our urban centers as possible in the next 4 years. I would also like to see us begin to truly build attainable homes just like we did back in the 70's.