Since coming into office in 2014, the current Kelowna city council has had six strategic priorities—clean drinking water, building vibrant urban centres, ensuring a healthy, safe, active and inclusive community, delivering a balanced transportation network, being a catalyst for business and providing strong financial management.
In October, council added four more—housing diversity, homelessness, public safety and preserving agricultural land.
Each priority has a number of components.
On Monday, city staff will update council on the progress made to address those components and according to a staff report, in the majority of areas of all 10 priorities, work has either been completed or is significantly underway.
Only one component—the Shepherd Road extension in Rutland, which is part of building vibrant urban centres priority—has not been started. Only four components list progress as “primary”—updating the city’s Agricultural Plan, the Healthy City Strategy /Health Housing, a business development policy and updating the city’s financial strategies and policies.
The report says there has been a renewed focus now that council has hit the mid-way point of its four-year term.
Included in the list of priorities components are a number that have now been completed, such as the Infill Challenge, encouragement of family-friendly affordable housing, incentives to spur rental housing, more rental housing grants, and development of Central Green in under the housing diversity priority, hiring a social planner and working with B.C. Housing and the Gospel Mission on the transitional storage pilot project under the homelessness priority, applying for grants to improve drinking water, the Strong Neighbourhood Program and the Queensway and Pandosy transit exchanges.
Other components of the priorities are al listed as “in progress” or significantly advanced.
Council will discuss the priorities at its regular meeting on Monday
