Kelowna-Lake Country MP Stephen Fuhr crossed the lake and his riding乌鸦传媒檚 boundary Tuesday to announce a timeline extension to the city for a grant that would benefit West Kelowna乌鸦传媒檚 Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant.
The City of West Kelowna now has an additional two years, until March 2022, to construct the plant.
Two years ago, Fuhr announced federal support for water infrastructure in the Central Okanagan. Eligible community projects received 50 per cent of project costs under the Clean Water Wastewater Fund (CWWF) from the government of Canada.
The remaining costs were covered by the provincial government (33 per cent) and the municipality (17 per cent).
乌鸦传媒淭his new funding model represented significant fiscal relief to municipalities who were trying to deliver on necessary community water projects,乌鸦传媒� said Fuhr.
乌鸦传媒淚n the case of the Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant project, West Kelowna had run into a number of logistical difficulties in meeting the timelines required by the CWWF.乌鸦传媒�
Complications included historical flooding in 2017 and 2018, which occupied city resources. The location and purchase of non-Crown land for the new plant were delayed with a looming deadline.
West Kelowna Mayor Gord Milsom. (Michael Rodriguez - 乌鸦传媒)
乌鸦传媒淲e saw our elected officials go above and beyond for us. It has been truly amazing,乌鸦传媒� said West Kelowna Mayor Gord Milsom.
乌鸦传媒淲ithout a doubt in my mind, this project would be years away, if not completely out of reach for West Kelowna, without the support of the federal and provincial governments.乌鸦传媒�
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Despite West Kelowna being out of his riding, Fuhr said people were reaching out to him and his party to get something done.
乌鸦传媒淚 care about the entire Thompson-Okanagan,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淭his community is very interconnected and all of it matters to me.乌鸦传媒�
Upon the natural disasters in 2017 and 2018, Fuhr reached out to his colleagues and was able to get an extra year for all municipalities under the CWWF.
Fuhr said that still wasn乌鸦传媒檛 enough for West Kelowna due to the additional challenge of land acquisition that the others didn乌鸦传媒檛 have.
乌鸦传媒淲hen you get land that乌鸦传媒檚 going to change the design of the system and a whole bunch of other things trickle down from that,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淚t just made it impossible for them to meet the timeline.乌鸦传媒�
Approached by former mayor Doug Findlater, current Mayor Milsom and MLA Ben Stewart, Fuhr felt the need from the community.
乌鸦传媒淚 think this is one of the biggest infrastructure projects this city has ever undertaken,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淚 said I乌鸦传媒檇 do it and I took it on as if it were my own.乌鸦传媒�
MP for Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola Dan Albas. (Michael Rodriguez - 乌鸦传媒)
MP Dan Albas, Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola, said he is happy this is getting done despite the across-the-lake representative being the one to get the praise.
乌鸦传媒淲hen there were unexpected difficulties in building the original plan, they had to shift. That included coming to myself to see how we could engage meaningfully with the government,乌鸦传媒� said Albas.
乌鸦传媒�(The mayor and city council) came forward with absolutely reasonable requests because either they were going to be forced to accelerate the program, which would have increased costs, or they would have missed out on grant funding.
乌鸦传媒淲hen it乌鸦传媒檚 about getting things done that are good for my folks, I don乌鸦传媒檛 care who gets the credit. It乌鸦传媒檚 about the community乌鸦传媒檚 needs being met. I welcome this today because it乌鸦传媒檚 a public commitment and there乌鸦传媒檚 no walking away from it.乌鸦传媒�
michael.rodriguez@kelownacapnews.com
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