“Tucker’s comments were accepted for information, with council not addressing any of the points at the time.”
– from December 4, 2023 VernonMatters article titled “Numerous topics raised in public input for Vernon budget”
Here were the points I brought up during the morning public input session:
- Parks – who decides which parks to close and which to open during winter, one issue is the gate at Lakeshore Park, the Park is no longer accessible as no one is opening or closing the gate
- Development Positions – Is the Planning Department sufficiently resourced? How many “Long Range Planning and Sustainability” staff do we currently employ
- Why are Vernon Tax payers the only ones on the hook for the Active Living Centre?
- Vernon residential sewer customers on the hook for sewer upgrades
- How will Council ensure that the District of Coldstream pays its shar of future Vernon sewer plant upgrades
- Irrigation water rates have been frozen for many years. With the irrigation system requiring expensive repairs, is Council prepared to share any of these costs with the actual users of this irrigation water
- Polson Park project will disrupt the windmill and Ogopogo landmarks, will these be removed during construction and replaced once complete
- Transportation department communications not being addressed due to staffing. No continuity with changes to manager position.
- When is the Development Approvals Department expected to be sufficiently resourced and how much more does Council expect to invest in approving development
- The City lowered Development Cost Charges in 2020, is the City prepared to review this. Developers should have to pay a fair share of infrastructure costs
- Parking downtown – concern with proposed Cultural Centre, losing parking lot and no plan in place to replace. Why has no underground parking been considered?
- Great work with planning for wildfires but when alert issued, some people, particularly seniors, have no internet or app availability. What are we doing long term to plan for possible evacuation event, is there a plan in place? Have we told people, have we done mock drills? What happens if we have to actually evacuate the City. If the time comes there won’t be enough RCMP, Fire Services etc to conduct full scale evacuation. What happens if a fire sweeps through downtown.
And the points I brought up in the afternoon session:
- 8100-8200 block of Okanagan Landing Road pooling and icing – hazard should be recognized with proper resources to sand the road
- Master drainage plan for Predator Ridge will impact lake quality, encourage commitment to ensure sewer connectivity to all of Vernon’s neighbourhoods
- Encourage City to investigate integrity of MacKay Reservoir and accompanying receiving ponds and control structure. Leaking reservoir is causing E.coli run off
- More bus stops around city core with covered shelter
- O’Keefe Ranch – residents will be surprised at what was discussed today ie insurance, loan and the amount of money being given. Need to consider what is O’Keefe Ranch to us, how many buildings are heritage, how many buildings have been altered
- RCMP – can we keep non emergency open for Saturdays
- Parks – maintenance plan, examples Girourard Cabin, Polson Park clock garden – a lot of parks in disrepair, need attention.
Find the Meeting Minutes here: https://pub-vernon.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=7280
Read the VernonMatters article here: https://vernonmatters.ca/2023/12/04/numerous-topics-raised-in-public-input-for-vernon-budget/