Road Referendum Debate
Electors within the Town of Oliver will have the opportunity to vote yes or no on whether Council of the Town of Oliver approves adoption of a Road Capital Loan Authorization Bylaw. The question will be put forth at the general election in November;
Do you approve Council of the Town of Oliver adopting Road Capital Loan Authorization Bylaw 1302, which will authorize Council to borrow a sum not to exceed $2,500,000 for the reconstruction of roads and construction of new sidewalks and walkways including planning, studying, designing and construction within the boundaries of the Town of Oliver for the following projects: re-construction of 350th Avenue (Hwy 97 to 103rd Street), sidewalk construction on 350th Avenue (107th Street to 119th Street) and construction of a walkway on east side of the Okanagan River (350th Avenue to approximately 1.3km north)?
13 Responses to Road Referendum – November 19th
1.
Maureen Doerr says:I am not sure this is not more then political issue, my opinion,…but my comment is…this is going to referendum, so please get out and make your voice heard…again with only 30% of voters taking the opportunity, it will be the majority of the 30% who decide….
2.Matthew Houghtaling says: I remember distinctly that one of the options was to leave addresses as they were. A functional grid .
I’m glad people are speaking up in reards to borrowing when the water twinning funding hasn’t been settled.
Common sense?
Any comment from new candidates would be appreciated.
3.
Patrick Hampson says: Paul, do not accuse me of misleading people before you check your facts; also I do not understand what addressing has to do with my previous comments about road work and pedestrian safety crossing 350/Fairview to Canada Post.
I recall you asking me in 2008; “Why Council does not do what we elected you to do and make decisions on Desert Hills rather than considering the petition to not bring the property into town?” Well we made a decision on addresses based on positive majority input but now you don’t want us to make decisions after being elected to do so. You can’t have it both ways.
But to respond to your comment;
I asked Canada Post for new style boxes in 2007/08 and Rick Ould (Canada Post, Kelowna) refused until we had decided on either street numbers or names for civic addressing. Call him if you don’t believe me.
The Town and Area ‘C’ were told in 2009 that Canada Post wanted us to make a decision on civic addresses. The fire department participated in the committee process of adopting civic addresses and the change to names from numbers was not my idea but was based on written comments requesting names and comments received during the open houses and also on the written and verbal complaints the Town received from residents.
The FD has the advantage of Kelowna’s computer dispatch system which cross references both new and old addresses with telephone numbers and anecdotal names for areas. the new street names are grouped in theme zones such as “tree” and “wine” names which makes it easy to identify general location.
I understand that you are angry at me and the change and I know that some members of the FD are also angry at me personally but we are responding to the requests of the majority of residents who responded to our questions.
4.
Bob says: spoken like a true politition Jack
5.
Arlene says: Am I being dense or could someone please explain to me why a walkway is needed on the EAST side of the river when there is already one (Hike & Bike Trail) on the WEST side? I fail to see the purpose of spending our hard earned tax monies on another trail when one already exists!
6.
Jack Bennest says: Glad mayoralty candidates have had a shot at this – but no takers on the council front so I will insert my thoughts:
Bob: “we don’t need taxes higher than Vancouver” – I don’t think that comparison has ever been made.
Ron: There are two parts of the 350th – redoing the entire roadway from signal light to 103rd (old school bridge) and a new sidewalk on the residential side of Fairview from 107th past the cemetery corner providing more safety for walkers. Personally I think we must impose 4 way stops at two or three intersections in an effort to slow the traffic down. (Separate issue). The council of the day looked at the costs of doing a lot of roadwork – long overdue and said the town could not afford to do the long list without gaining permission from the people. I don’t know why anyone would object to having a say on what goes on here. Nothing is being forced down any throats. If the people say no – then roads, sidewalks and pathways will be handled on an incremental basis. But blame the council and staff – not one person – this was a long discussion with staff members and Councillors having their preferences for work to be done.
Paul: I agree with your comment on the “or’s” – there is a reason behind it because of tenure on the land but not explained well. Council had wanted an earlier public information meeting on this issue but the debate has started and the issues need to be confronted head on. I like the idea of dedicating new tax money for projects rather than dumping into the “big pot” that spreads it around and you lose track of what its potential is.
It’s a vote – let the people decide – state your preference – Yes or No. To Bob – taxes went down for me/many others this year thanks to a increase in Homeowners Grant and a Geographical tax credit. If you add up all the costs for a quality fire department, parks system, great municipal service (inside and out), roads, sewers, water, cost of town buildings, search and rescue, police, airport, great library – boy what a deal.
7.Bob says: I am totally against this continued increase in taxes ! this is a small town we don’t need taxes higher than vancouver. the “hidden ” tax increase by charging for water and then water usage is bad enough then the bill for the number/name change which will probably be hidden now 2.5million for road expansion and improvement. this country is on the edge of recession and the town wants to increase taxes .this should be a time to cut back on the frills like paving bike paths
8.
Paul Tribbick says: Pat
Please do not use Canada Post to mislead us again. Canada Post had nothing to do with the town address change, and the town is not responsible for access to Canada Post green boxes.
9.
Patrick Hampson says: Good comments and questions, Paul.
The Town’s road maintenance budget is approximately $400,000 annually and that amount can not cover the cost of significant changes, some of which have been sidelined in an effort to keep tax increases as low as possible while Water twinning is completed.
350th/Fairview is an example of a sidelined project to enhance the road and make it safer especially where Canada Post is situated. The creation of an island and removal of the semi buried curb on 99th was considered important during discussions about a Wine Village. We have had many calls over the years for a sidewalk up 350th for student safety and we hope a sidewalk will act as a partial traffic calming device until we can develop other options to reduce the speed of vehicles.
Paving the east side H&B trail is a project to create more accessibility options for residents who have mobility issues and desire as much variation as possible in their travels. Ultimately we would like to create scooter access around the recently formalized trail around the wetlands area between 87th and the H&B trail.
The tax money from Southwinds shopping center will not be collected until the 2012 tax year and will go into the general revenue fund and from there it will be used to accelerate road maintenance and provide money for general operating expenses.
With respect to Ed G’s comment about a second access, there is a plan to provide a second emergency vehicle access via a full width road/pedestrian walkway from 93rd across to 362nd beside (Oliver Suites Hotel – Riverside)*. It will be built to vehicular standards with removable bollards. That will cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete and probably will not happen until we can move development ahead on 93rd.
Other options have been looked at because we definitely are not comfortable with only one access to the east side of the river and the possibility of the bridge being blocked by an MVI; the issue is cost and there are no other financially viable locations for a second crossing.
* corrected for clarity
10.
Ron Hovanes says: I fail to see the urgency or major disrepapair that would make 350th Avenue such a priority that a referendum is neccessary. If it is a traffic/speed issue, then enforcement needs to be addressed. There are other areas in town with much steeper grades where a sidewalk would be of huge benefit. For example the East Side Grocery hill in winter is a major concern with children walking to school everyday. We are already committed to the recent Venables referendum, the cost of the new address changes and many are uncertain what effect water metering will have compared to previous years. 2.5 million in added taxation is uneccessary at this time, especially to those on fixed incomes and young families.
11.
Newcomer says: I would think it would be more important for the Town to be thinking of the new high school and/or the auditorium right now…..leaving its financial doors open in case they needed to borrow for this project.
The highways is probably a different budget, but, nevertheless, the school should be the first priority.
12.
Ed G. says: How about a second canal crossing for us over here on the east side?? What would
happen if a mishap were to happen on the one bridge and the fire/ambulance/
police could’nt get over here, where the hospital is? Something to think about!!!
13.
Paul Tribbick says: This seems to me a lot of money for a lot of “or’s”. I have always thought that road work was an ongoing project that councils would budget for each year, not let get to disrepair and have to spend large amounts of borrowed money for. I, as do others that I have spoken with, question the reasoning behind twinning the hike and bike path.
What happens with the $150,000 or so that the new shopping center brings to the tax roll each year.
Publisher: An open invitation to all candidates for municipal council to answer Paul’s concerns.
Pat
Ron
Corinne
David
Terry
Linda
Maureen