Several city councillors are still unhappy about implementing the provincial government乌鸦传媒檚 new housing legislation.
Following a staff report at Monday乌鸦传媒檚 (Apr 15) meeting, they said they had no choice but to vote in favour of amendments to zoning bylaws and the Official Community Plan (OCP) to implement the provincial government乌鸦传媒檚 new housing legislation.
乌鸦传媒淲e乌鸦传媒檙e losing more and more control here at the council level with the authority taken away by the province,乌鸦传媒� said Councillor Ron Cannan, who also voiced concerns about delegating 乌鸦传媒渁ll the powers for the city to staff.乌鸦传媒�
READ MORE: Frustration and acceptance for Kelowna council on housing legislation
One of the main sticking points is that council can no longer request a public hearing if a residential development application is consistent with the OCP. It can only approve or deny rezoning at the application stage.
Developments that meet the OCP could be left to staff discretion.
乌鸦传媒淚t precludes us from doing our duty,乌鸦传媒� said Coun. Mohini Singh. 乌鸦传媒淚t takes away the ability for us to serve the needs of our community, but we have no choice.乌鸦传媒�
Coun. Gord Lovegrove agreed but noted that staff need council乌鸦传媒檚 support.
乌鸦传媒淚乌鸦传媒檓 seeing our staff under a lot of strain to get the changes made, they are the experts. I trust them.乌鸦传媒�
Coun. Luke Stack reminded his colleagues of where their authority comes from.
乌鸦传媒淭he only authority we have in the first place was given to us by our provincial government. We are losing some of the freedoms that we乌鸦传媒檝e enjoyed but in essence, the only thing we as a municipal government can do is what the provincial government allows us to do.乌鸦传媒�
Councillors Hodge and Cannon were the only ones opposed to giving three readings to the amendments.
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