CAMPAIGNS & LOBBYING
Welcome to the West Kelowna Candidates answer section.
First, here are the questions we asked:
1. Why are you running for City Council/Mayor?
2. Civic Elections have notoriously low turn out, especially among young voters. What do you think the key issues are for student voters in your region this civic election?
3. Summarize your position on maintaining a balance between environmental sustainability and economic development. How important is it – and is a balance currently being maintained in your community?
4. What role, if any, do you feel municipal governments should have in the development of affordable housing?
5. Would you make a commitment for the community to set a target for affordable housing to be developed each year? What would you do to ensure that these targets were met?
6. Would you champion the development of a comprehensive affordable housing strategy for your community? What would such a strategy look like?
7. What transit issues does your community face, and what immediate changes do you think could be made to address them and improve service?
8. While our region’s senior population continues to grow recent graduates are looking beyond this region for career opportunities. What is your position on this situation?
9. Why should student voters in your region choose you for City Council/Mayor?
*Please note the responses are presented exactly as received. Some responses have been truncated to the 100 word limit.
Candidate List - Only candidates who responded are listed
Mayor - Doug Findlater
Council - Duane Ophus
Council - Gordon Ficke
Mayoral Candidate Responses:
1.
West Kelowna was incorporated as a new large municipality 4 short years ago. We are transitioning from rural governance and services to an urban model, while maintaining our rural spaces and heritage. I am strongly committed to seeing this process through after having been the Chair of the Community Restructure Committee and as the current Mayor of the new District municipality.
2.
My view is that Non campus issues are Transportation; new channels that local government communicates its programs and services to young voters (social media); safety for youth and women in public places; affordable housing and a clear community direction that supports jobs for the future.
3.
West Kelowna’s brand new Official Community Plan is our guiding document with regard to triple bottom line (Environmental, economic, and social) sustainability. Our plan implements Smart Growth principles of a more compact community, green space and economic viability. It also integrates Transit considerations into Community Planning. As Mayor I have overseen the development of this plan and fully support it.
4.
Local government has a role through both policy mandating private development and funding in developing affordable housing where there are opportunities. Affordable housing is within the mandate of local government, in concert with partnerships from developers, federal and provincial governments and community organizations.
5.
This question is a follow up result of the strategy outlined below in question 6. Currently we are tracking the success of licensing, inspection and legalization of secondary suites. As we complete other parts of the Strategy, realistic targets will be established. As a new District we are managing by Strategic Priorities, and quarterly update reports are provided to council on all matters. Those reports and how targets are being addressed are available on the District’s website (www.districtofwestkelowna.ca ) and in the Districts’ Annual Report. I am committed to ensuring these targets are established as part of the plan we are undertaking.
6.
Yes, West Kelowna will complete the Affordable Housing Strategy now that the Official Community Plan is completed and has contained Affordable Housing components in it. We will continue to encourage development that provides a component of safe and affordable housing by licensing and regulating secondary suites which provide a segment of housing market and assist homeowners to fund their mortgages. As the strategy develops we’ll seek partnerships with non-profit and senior levels of government for funding to provide appropriate social housing. The District is also looking at the implications of requiring a certain portion of private development to include a component of affordable housing.
7.
Transit Improvements are in progress. I’m a strong advocate of Bus Rapid Transit and West Kelowna has agreed in principle to participate in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) with every 15 minute service from Westbank, to Boucherie to downtown Kelowna and onto Orchard Park and UBCO along the Highway N 97 spine. This is a major increase in service. There is considerable work to be done including land purchase for exchanges at Westbank and Boucherie. Other ‘feeder’ routes are being assessed with regard to efficiency, routing to most neighbourhoods and connections to the yet to be determined BRT prior to commencement of the service.
8.
I seek as Mayor of West Kelowna to create a livable friendly community for all ages with career opportunities to ensure graduating students have an option of remaining in the Central Okanagan. The District is a member of the Central Okanagan Economic Development organization, and has hired our own Business Development officer to stimulate business and pursue economic opportunities. We have an Economic Development Strategy that seeks to revitalize Westbank Centre, supporting local tourism initiatives, and promotion and long term expansion of the District of West Kelowna Industrial area. Such initiatives should encourage enhance diverse career opportunities in West Kelowna.
9.
As a long time resident, I understand the issues post secondary students face. I am a former Student Union President and Business Manager in my student days. My sons completed their post secondary training in the past decade. I am open and accessible to meet and discuss issues with you today and as Mayor.
Council Candidate Responses:
1.
I have been on Council since incorporation four years ago and, while we have made excellent progress in laying the foundation for our new community, there is much more work to be done over the next three years. Continuity is important and I want to continue to contribute to this process.
2.
It seems to me that three issues are particularly relevant to younger voters at the municipal level, housing , transportation (transit) and jobs and local government has a role to play in all three.
3.
We are striving hard to maintain a proper balance between the environment and economic development. I was a strong advocate for two particular items in our new Official Community Plan, the first is our goal of 20% green space in our community and the second is for the community amenity provision from new development. Both of these need to be balanced off against the need for affordable development but will allow us, over time, to make our community an even better place to live.
4.
We are new so our role is of necessity rather limited at this time. But, we have put in place several policies designed to address this issue, one is our blanket secondary suite policy which allows for the development of this often more affordable housing type under specific conditions to ensure safety and community building. We have a great opportunity to champion affordable housing as a component of re-development of Westbank Town Centre, perhaps keying on rental accommodation, with easy access to major amenities via enhanced transit service.
5.
No, to be honest I don’t think that we are yet at the stage of development of our new community where we are in a position to set specific targets for new affordable housing. But as already mentioned, we have worked on this and we have a number of opportunities to make the situation better and these will continue to receive my attention.
6.
Yes as already mentioned and I believe for us a key component will be a focus on a better stock of more affordable rental units which are really important to younger people.
7.
We have a lot of geography to cover with a small population to serve in many areas. We are in the process of a detailed review of all our routes with BC Transit and my goal is to ensure the best possible service to our neighbourhoods feeding into an extension of Bus Rapid Transit service to Westbank Centre. We need the most frequent service possible on the BRT route to Kelowna to sevice the college, university and many other amenities.
8.
There are many more opportunities for young people in the Okanagan now than there were 30 years ago but a lot more can be done. We need to continue to encourage business investment to create jobs, particularly in the knowledge based industries. The growth of our college, university, medical facilities and many others will continue to contribute to this. I encourage young people to see the world but this community is a great place to raise a family when you are ready and able to come back, as my spouse and I did nearly 20 years ago.
9.
My commitment is to serve all age groups, we need more affordable housing, better transit and more jobs for young people and I plan to keep working on these issues.
1.
I am running for a council position because I would like to follow through with my vision for our community. I strongly believe in our local heritage and that by preserving, protecting and promoting our century old town of Westbank within our district is the key to the success of our community and will create the ambience for our unique lifestyle we desire.
2.
The key issues for student voters are affordable housing, a speedy and reliable transit system and friendly places around Westbank Centre where they can hang out, work on assignments on their computers with readily available wi-fi service.
3.
In my view it is crucial to maintain a balance between economic development and environmental sustainablility. We need to encourage controlled economic development in our community in order to keep our taxes and utility fees to a minimum, yet we have to assess the environmental impact as a result of approving new development. We need to address all concerns from whether our water resources are adversely affected, green spaces and wildlife adjacent to development are threatened to potential soil erosion issues.
4.
Local governments should have input with developers when it comes to affordable housing, and request that a certain number of lots be allocated for that type of housing.
5.
Council would need to work with staff to assess the number of people that would require affordable housing and what types, whether basement suites, carriage houses, single detached homes, etc. I would request that district staff provide an annual report on the number of local citizens that acquired affordable housing and the number of people that are waiting for affordable housing.
6.
I would be happy to champion an affordable housing initiative in my community, if elected. As I aforementioned, I feel that staff and council need to work together to survey our local citizens to ascertain who requires affordable housing and what their needs are. Students and single people may only require a secondary suite, whereas couples and families may want a town house, condominium or single detached home. From these stats we can extrapolate how many single detached homes, condominium units, secondary suites and carriage houses we need to fulfill our needs.
7.
Our transit issues revolve around making timely transfers from one bus to another. I have taken the bus on several occasions, and unless travel is from point A to B on one bus, it can take a passenger an hour or longer to reach their destination than if they had taken a car or taxi. We need to address making bus transfers quicker and more efficient at all the bus loops in the central Okanagan.
8.
We should attract light manufacturing industries to the Westside Industrial Park area, that include specialized electronic manufacturing for hearing aids, prosthetic assistive devices, pacemakers, etc. that cater to our demographic senior population. Also, film animation studios, manufacturing and supply companies that support our local helicopter companies, viticulture scientific labs that work in conjuction with our wine industry to identify threatening diseases, experiment with new wine varieties, etc. could be located throughout our district.
9.
As a former student of OC and a parent of two UBC-O graduates I understand the issues and problems that students face, whether working for their certificate or diploma or trying to find employment after they graduate. I will work on their behalf to enable students to live and work here.
 |
 |
