Thank you to all of our Gellatly Bay Goats Peak Community Association members who provided feedback in the first round of engagement for the City of West Kelowna Community Vision! This was an important first step, as information gathered through this process will provide city council with direction in planning future endeavours, growth and development.
We encourage you to read the Round 1 Engagement Summary and the full appendices which includes all submitted comments.
Our Summary – When we read the appendices (in particular the individual comments), we kept a tally and found that well over 100 respondents advocated for diverse, thoughtful, small scale development such as single-family homes, townhomes and low rises, and for recreation (parks/beaches/trails). Less than 20 people asked for commercial development on Gellatly Bay, and many of these added comments reflecting small, casual, cafes, pubs or a market. High rise towers were NOT part of this vision. Interestingly, the current 2017 Amended Gellatly Bay Official Community Plan truly reflects the views expressed in this survey.
According to the Draft Community Vision people in West Kelowna strive for a place to belong and appreciate the opportunity to experience natural areas. Specific to our area, the draft envisions a “vibrant” and “stunning” waterfront. This leads us to wonder what that means to people… Do we envision a lively recreational corridor that provides an opportunity to enjoy beauty and experience our natural surrounding for generations to come? Is it feasible to provide cafes, pubs and shops through small-scale development? Or does the cost of having commercial businesses mean large scale development that will change the feel of our bay forever?
We now have the opportunity to clarify what this means through Phase 2 of City of West Kelowna’s Choose Your Own Adventure surveys. The feedback gathered in this survey round will lead to the final Community Vision (planned for the new year), and eventually the Official Community Plan. We encourage all of our members to submit your feedback by following these steps.
Gellatly Bay Goats Peak Community Association 