Eventually, a long stretch of Glenmore Road in the Central Okanagan that’s currently two lanes will be widened to four lanes.
When that happens is anyone’s guess.
But this week, on Monday afternoon, Kelowna city council unanimously voted to approve its 2040 Transportation Master Plan (TMP), which included discourse about widening Glenmore Road.
“The transportation master plan, known as the TMP, is our high-level guiding document about all the transportation initiatives that will help grow our city,” said Doug Gilchrist, chief administrative officer for the City of Kelowna.
Widening Glenmore Road, from Union Road to McKinley Beach, is pegged at around $31 million. The idea of four-laning that section has been talked about for more than a decade.
But who will pay for it was a topic of discussion.
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On Sunday, Kelowna resident Peter Truch sent out an email to local media, stating that if the TMP was approved, it would negate a 2009 agreement with the developer of McKinley Beach.
According to Truch, who says he’s a professional engineer, the cancelled agreement would see the costs shifted to taxpayers.
Truch’s email said in part “(the widening) was quietly included within the TMP scope of projects as Glenmore Road four-laning and Glenmore Road safety improvements, rather than obligating the developer to fulfill the 2009 agreement. Doing so results in a $31.4 (million) reduction in contributions from the McKinley Beach developer towards Kelowna’s infrastructure with the burden shifting to others, including taxpayers.”
However, the city said that the agreement is no longer valid, since most of the traffic on the road is regional.
“We have a servicing agreement for that area, and it acknowledges a review period and that review has been done,” said Gilchrist.
“And the review acknowledged that there is not nearly as much traffic attributed to their development as there was when it was originally approved.”
In the end, Gilchrist says the developers “will pay a portion of it; they are not solely responsible for it.”