West Kelowna city hall opponents say they reached their goal

WEST KELOWNA — The petitions are in and now the counting begins.

A group of citizens opposed to West Kelowna borrowing money for a new city hall claim they’ve reached their goal.

They had to collect at least 2603 signatures, which represents 10 of eligible voters, to scuttle plans to borrow $10.5 million through the alternative approval process.

The deadline was 4 p.m. Tuesday

The group says it has collected approximately 3,920 signatures.

“It’s not that the citizens didn’t want a new City Hall, it was the fact that the City Council wanted to use a backdoor, and from our point of view, an un-democratic Alternate Approval Process to borrow the money rather than do what most of the citizens wanted,” says group spokesman, Ian Graham.

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Graham says he would prefer a referendum on whether the city should borrow the money.

He says the vote should be held as part of the next municipal election, two years from now.

The new city hall is part of the plans for the West Kelowna civic centre project on Elliott Road.

The proposed development also includes two residential buildings, a commercial office building and a public plaza.

The city says the signatures on the petitions will be verified and a report will be presented to council next Tuesday.

If there are enough signatures to derail the alternative approval process, council will have 80 days to hold a referendum or it can put the project on hold.