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Bypass raises serious concerns in West Kelowna

Click to play video: 'A proposed bypass above the City of West Kelowna is causing concerns'
A proposed bypass above the City of West Kelowna is causing concerns
A proposed bypass above the City of West Kelowna is causing concerns – Apr 26, 2017

Concerns are growing over a proposed highway project that many West Kelowna residents say will destroy Rose Valley Regional Park.

“It would be devastating if they put a highway through here,” Rose Valley resident Nadene Shirtliff said. “This is a 250-hectare park that is a national conservancy area for the Okanaagan natural wildlife and plant species. We have bears up here, we have cougars, we’ve had big horn sheep, there’s a lot of coyotes and all kinds of birds and it would be a tragedy to lose this.”

The B.C. Transportation Ministry is exploring the option of building a 14-kilometre bypass in the hills above the city with sections of it cutting right through the park.

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“This is pristine landscape,” Rose Valley resident Jude Pipher said. “There are a lot of younger families in this area and a lot of them have moved here specifically to take advantage of all the hiking trails.”

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According to ministry documents, the proposed bypass would also potentially run close to the Rose Valley reservoir.

“That is one of the questions I posed to the Ministry of Transportation,” Shirtliff said. “I said, ‘You can’t put a highway through a watershed area and they said, ‘Oh well, we are putting in a treatment plant at the end of the reservoir so it will be fine but it will not be fine. Chlorination won’t take out diesel fuel if there is a spill.”

The transportation ministry would not provide any details about the proposed bypass citing the upcoming election.

City council has asked the transportation ministry to look into options for a bypass. While Mayor Doug Findlater supports the idea of a bypass, he told Global News he does not like the route of the current proposal.

“I don’t like the line through a park and just below where our dam is for the reservoir is,” Findlater said. “I think there is an issue there that raises some big concerns.”

A Facebook page has now been set up opposing the bypass along with an online petition to try and stop the project from moving forward.

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