Free parking will once again return to downtown Kelowna, B.C., this holiday season.
On Monday, city council agreed to a request from the Downtown Kelowna Association to provide free, two-hour street parking on Saturdays during December.
The city says the free-parking decision, which is about to enter its 28th year, supports downtown businesses during the holiday season.
In other city hall news, council considered a rezoning application for a new firehall in the Glenmore area.
The new firehall would replace the current firehall at 550 Valley Road North, though no timeframe was discussed when the new firehall would be built.
The current firehall property would be returned to agricultural land. The proposal will again be heard on Nov. 29.
Council also received the final results from last month’s civic election.
According to the city, 34,851 residents cast ballots, or 30.31 per cent of an estimated 115,000 voters.
That 30.31 per cent, said the city, was above the average of 27.12 per cent of 10 similar-sized B.C. cities.
The city noted that voting by mail was again an option, and that there were 1,995 requests for mail ballot packages, with1,060 mail ballots being accepted.
According to Civic Info BC, Tom Dyas won the mayor’s race with 61.2 per cent of the vote (21,328 votes) with incumbent Colin Basran in second at 31.3 per cent (10,905). Dave Habib was third (4.4 per cent, 1,533 votes).
Among council candidates, the top eight elected to council were:
- Ron Cannan, 17,152 votes
- Loyal Wooldridge 14,700 votes
- Rick Webber, 11,795 votes
- Gordon Lovegrove, 11,609 votes
- Mohini Singh, 11,585 votes
- Luke Stack, 11,421 votes
- Charlie Hodge, 11,374 votes
- Maxine DeHart, 11,218 votes
Also Monday, council agreed to a four-per cent wastewater utility rate increase.
The city says the increase will cost residential homes an additional 91 cents per month, upping the monthly bill to $23.62.