Audra Boudreau had her work cut out for her on Thursday, as she tallied up petition signatures of Kelowna residents opposed to a supportive housing project slated for McCurdy Road.
She said she believes they will meet their 13,000-signature goal.
The petition organizer, alongside volunteers, have gone door-to-door collecting signatures and even hosted a drive-thru signing at Rutland Secondary School.
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But will that be enough to convince council to bring the controversial project back to the table?
What city councillors can do and what the implications of their actions are, are two different questions, Kelowna city clerk Stephen Fleming said.
Fleming said a 30-day reconsideration mechanism is outlined in both the community charter and in the council procedure bylaw, meaning the mayor can bring back an item that had previously been approved, including the McCurdy housing project.
In the case of the McCurdy supportive housing project, the rezoning of the land received a third reading in and the this year, before councillors voted 乌鸦传媒測es乌鸦传媒� on the form and character of the project and issued a development permit.
The says a matter brought forward for reconsideration must be done at the time of, or within one month of a council decision. And under the conditions of the , if the original decision was the adoption of a bylaw乌鸦传媒攕uch as a land rezoning乌鸦传媒攁nd that decision is rejected on reconsideration, the bylaw is deemed to be repealed.
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乌鸦传媒淏ut in this hypothetical case for McCurdy, it乌鸦传媒檚 not as straight forward,乌鸦传媒� Fleming said. 乌鸦传媒淐ould you reconsider this? Yes. But what are the implications of that.乌鸦传媒�
乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 not just vote again and get a different answer,乌鸦传媒� he said.
Implications considered by councillors, Fleming said, could include financial impacts on the applicant or builder and if the project has already been started.
乌鸦传媒淭o un-adopt a bylaw, we乌鸦传媒檇 have to introduce something that says, 乌鸦传媒榟ey, this is the wrong zone, it should be something else乌鸦传媒� and change the future land use map to what it was originally, or some other zone,乌鸦传媒� Fleming said. 乌鸦传媒淏ecause it is an adopted bylaw, you can乌鸦传媒檛 just un-adopt it like a resolution.乌鸦传媒�
Council may also consider what is best for the community as a whole.
Fleming said one side affected by the project 乌鸦传媒渨ould be pleased,乌鸦传媒� referring to the community of Rutland, but what would that look like for those who are supporters of the project? 乌鸦传媒淲hat message does that send?乌鸦传媒�
乌鸦传媒淪tuff an elected official must consider; can you do something? Should you do something? The answer is not always the same,乌鸦传媒� he said.
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Caitlin.clow@kelownacapnews.com
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