Kelowna residents are being invited to learn more about the Alternative Approval Process to be used for the proposed acceleration of construction of the city’s new South Perimeter Road and Gordon Drive extension.
An public information session on the AAP will go Feb. 28 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Capital News Centre, 4105 Gordon Drive.
“South Perimeter Road is proposed to be constructed approximately eight years earlier than identified in the Official Community Plan and at no cost to taxpayers,” said Johannes Saufferer, real estate services manager for the city.
“It will be paid for through development cost charges collected from developers in the area, but the length of the payback period in the funding agreement triggers the city’s requirement for an alternative approval process (to gain public approval for the plan).”
The AAP period is now underway and will run from Feb. 14 to March 16. Qualified residents who oppose the agreement can sign the AAP form—similar to a petition—and if 10 percent of eligible voters sign, council must reconsider the plan and either send it to a referendum or cancel it.
The APP form is available online at kelowna.ca and for pick-up at City Hall, as well as at the Feb. 28 information session. The signed form must be returned to the city clerk on or before 4 p.m. on March 16 in order to be counted. Those in favour of the proposal are not required to do anything.
The process, similar to reverse-option billing in the corporate world —which is illegal in B.C.—puts the onus on opponents to try and stop a proposal by local government, not on the local government to convince residents of the merits of a project.
Learn more about this project and about the AAP process at kelowna.ca/cityprojects.
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