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New portables for city, high school: City of West Kelowna council highlights

Mt. Boucherie Secondary and the city hall will get more portables, and the city will continue visioning project
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West Kelowna City Hall—Image credit: City of West Kelowna

Portables for Mt. Boucherie Senior Secondary

More portable classrooms are coming to Mt. Boucherie Senior Secondary.

During the May 26 meeting, council unanimously approved a development permit to reduce the number of required, off-street parking spaces from 20 down to five. This will enable the school district to install four more portables: two for this year and another two in 2024.

Portable classrooms have been installed throughout the years to meet the increase in enrolment. This time, the additional four portables will meet increased enrolment and the requirements for smaller classes.

Mt. Boucherie Senior Secondary is West Kelowna’s only high school, with nearly 1,500 students enrolled. Currently, the school has 54 classrooms and eight portables.

City resumes Community Visioning initiative

The City of West Kelowna’s council wants to continue the Community Visioning initiative in a safe way, which means scheduling events virtually. Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and restrictions were put in place, city staff hoped to attend various events in person to gather feedback on what residents’ visions are for the future of West Kelowna. Due to continued restrictions on gathering sizes, council decided to host virtual events through the city’s social media accounts, webinars as well as video conferences.

The Community Visioning initiative will provide residents with an opportunity to shape the city’s future.

More information will be available on the project’s website soon.

Portables for city hall

In order to comply with the province’s physical distancing requirements, the City of West Kelowna bought additional portables to house some of the city’s staff.

Staff set up office spaces on the concrete floor in the Royal LePage Place arena, where several of them have been working. The city plans to gradually reopen some programs and facilities in June.

“We are working closely with our regional member municipalities, the regional district, as well as others we’re following: WorkSafeBC procedures. We’re developing procedures that will follow Dr. Henry’s directions,” the city’s chief administrative officer Paul Gipps said.

“We’re tight and we’re small and we can’t fit everybody back into the same spaces. And as we take back the arena (to resume programs), we’ll need to address some of this stuff.”

The move to get more portables and reopening programs and services were unanimously supported by the council. City staff will work on a ‘phasing in’ plan.

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Twila Amato
Video journalist, Black Press Okanagan
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Want to support local journalism during the pandemic? Make a donation here.


Twila Amato
Video journalist, Black Press Okanagan
Follow me on Twitter

Want to support local journalism during the pandemic? Make a donation here.



Twila Amato

About the Author: Twila Amato

Twila was a radio reporter based in northern Vancouver Island. She won the Jack Webster Student Journalism Award while at BCIT and received a degree in ancient and modern Greek history from McGill University.
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