UPDATE: 11:45 p.m.
Following a five-hour public hearing and listening to 44 speakers support and oppose a plan to build a new waterfront visitors’ centre at the foot of Queensway in downtown Kelowna, city council approved rezoning the land for the facility.
The property, currently a parking lot located between Stuart Park and Kerry Park, will become a part of a revamped Kerry park, and a small section it will have the 3,300-square-foot, one-storey visitors’ centre, with a mezzanine, built on it.
While opponents voiced their concerns all night that the location was the wrong one for a building of any sort and should be used only for its original, and currently zoned, use as a park only, proponents argued it was the perfect place for a modern visitors’ centre because it is where the people are when they come to Kelowna.
Tuesday night the speakers were evenly split on the issue of the rezoning—22 apiece—but only one Kelowna councillor voted against the rezoning when it came time to make a decision.
Coun. Charlie Hodge praised Kelowna Tourism’s plan for the new visitors’ centre, to replace the one on Harvey Avenue, but said he heard from too many people to ignore their opposition.
Six other councillors and Mayor Colin Basran, however, felt the location was the right one and followed Coun. Luke Stack’s lead when he said he felt that buildings can enhance a park.
Council. Maxine DeHart excused herself from the public hearing and the decision citing conflict as she works for a local hotel and is involved in the tourism industry.
UPDATE: 7:30 p.m.
Tourism Kelowna CEO Nancy Cameron made a presentation at the public hearing, saying 78 per cent of visitor centres have moved away from highways and into downtown locations, saying the Kelowna proposal is the right concept, at the right time and in the right location.
Of the first five speakers following Cameron, three were in favour and two were against the project to place the visitor centre on the Queensway jetty.
One man held up a sign that read “take your corporate hands off our public lands,” while a business-owner said a new visitor centre is needed, but not on the “last piece of park land,” available.
UPDATE: 6:50 p.m.
The City of Kelowna received a total of 293 letters/emails on its rezoning application for the Queensway jetty, the majority of them opposed to the development.
There were 202 letters opposed to the project and 91 that supported the project.
In its application to rezone the property, the city says the Queensway jetty was historically been a gateway, welcoming visitors to the area with a sternwheeler in the 1900s and a ferry landing until 1958 when the WAC Bennett bridge opened.
There are an estimated 300 people in attendance.
Original story: 6 p.m.
Kelowna mayor Colin Basran says a decision may not be made tonight as the City of Kelowna holds a public hearing on a hotly debated rezoning application in downtown Kelowna.
The city is proposing to move a Tourism Kelowna’s visitor centre to the Queensway jetty while changing zoning that would also allow for a hotel on the Kelowna waterfront.
Basran told a standing room only crowd that due to the number of people that have signed up to talk at the event, the city may not be able to make a decision tonight, as is normal procedure.
It has been a contentious issue as those on both sides have made their support known. The Chamber supported the visitor centre while a Kelowna business says the location is wrong. The Capital News also received dozens of letters to the editor.
The public hearing is expected to hear both sides of the debate on a rezoning application that would clear the way for Kelowna Tourism to open a visitor centre on the Queensway jetty.
Basran said the city has received 291 letters on the topic but did not immediately provide a breakdown.
The Capital News has a reporter in the council chambers and will update the story as the hearing moves along.
The hearing began at 6 p.m.
