With less than a week until a critical vote on the proposed Okanagan rail trail project, some Lake Country residents held a rally to voice their support for the initiative.
“We have one and a half children and we really think that the more parks we have, the better the quality of life is here so if we are going to make a future here, we want as much green space as possible,” said Jordan Stadnicki, one of dozens of people at Beasley Park today to support the ‘yes’ side.
Residents will vote on April 25 whether to borrow more than $2.5 million to help fund the $22 million pedestrian and bicycle corridor on an old CN rail line linking Kelowna to Coldstream. The money, and approval of local residents, is one of the final steps needed after the government said they would spend more than $7 million on the project if the ‘yes’ side wins.
Some local residents have raised concerns that the trail would run over their own property. But Lake Country Mayor James Baker has said those issues are between CN and the homeowners.
“CN is selling us the corridor unencumbered so they have to deal with all of the issues of the property owners and we are just asking to borrow to be able to buy,” he said earlier this month.
Today, he was optimistic about a positive vote this week – and pledging that no additional taxpayer money would be required.
“We hope we’ve addressed all of those concerns in that it’s just the purchase that we are looking at,” he said.
“The development all comes later and we don’t intend on spending municipal money on that.”
Residents can vote at George Elliot Secondary School gym from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday.
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