Kelowna, B.C. – Supporters and investors of a large development on Kelowna’s South Slopes packed a public meeting last night.
And the developer came out verbally swinging against members of the Regional District of the Central Okanagan (RDCO) board, calling their discussions to create an Official Community Plan (OCP) shameful.
Kelowna Mountain developer Mark Consiglio referred to the OCP as a “… document which was given first reading which stops all development in the area.
Consiglio has begun moving dirt, building roads and creating infrastructure on the hundreds of hectares of land outside Kelowna’s City limits to accommodate hundreds of homes, a winery and a ski hill.
The developer noted he’s not the only one who thinks the RDCO is attempting to quash development on the South Slopes, referring to others who spoke in his favour at the meeting.
“We have to come back in, like (Kelowna lawyer) Tom Smithwick said, with our hat in our hand and beg to do an OCP amendment because a document got put through on those who are trying to stop development on the south slopes for 20 years? You should be ashamed of the process and ashamed of the result. I truly feel that,” Consiglio said to the board of regional directors at Monday night’s meeting.
Consiglio says he doesn’t need the RDCO’s permission to build on his property, which is governed by the province as long as there is no regional district OCP in place. He says provincial permits have been granted for work currently under way on the Kelowna Mountain property.
“We’re not trying to shortcut,” says Consiglio. “We’ve gotten the permits for everything we’ve done. We’ve done more than any other development in town has ever done to build amenities and we’ve done it all so far without any show of faith from the politicians that campaigned that they were open for business and wanted to create jobs.”
The RDCO Board closed the public process on the OCP, which means they cannot receive new information from outside sources.
While Kelowna Mountain submitted an application for their development to the RDCO Monday afternoon at 3 p.m., a regional district employee at the meeting stated the document was incomplete.
Director Patti Hanson called for the resignation of Board Chair Robert Hobson and Planning Director Dan Plamondon last month accusing the pair of misleading board members when it came to the OCP and development application process that affects Kelowna Mountain. Hanson has since apologized publicly.
Discussion over the OCP will continue at the next board meeting.
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