Over the past year the Gellatly Bay Goats Peak Community Association (GBGPCA) continued to monitor West Kelowna initiatives and participate in opportunities for feedback, advocate for thoughtful growth, develop a relationship with the other neighbourhood associations in West Kelowna, present to city council and share information with our members.
Some of the highlights include:
- Advocation for the right to a public hearing in response to provincial government Bill 26, (this bill creates no necessity for a public hearing if a development application falls within the Official Community Plan (OCP)). Our concern is the potential for “density bonusing” to be included within the upcoming zoning process, which could open the door to real variance from that described in the recently adopted Official Community Plan. We are grateful that our city council passed a bylaw creating a trigger clause guaranteeing a public hearing should concerns be raised from 8 distinct addresses.
- The new 20-year growth plan for the City of West Kelowna was passed at the September 12th city council meeting. Although the OCP is not everything we advocated for, it appears that the height of buildings in neighbourhood centres is a maximum of 6 stories, while the downtown area will be up to 19 stories. The Gellatly Bay Goats Peak neighbourhood is about to experience tremendous growth in West Kelowna with:
- over 6000 people expected to live in our 3 neighbourhood centres (the Goats Peak Neighbourhood Centre doubled in size at the end of the OCP process),
- the development of Shorerise on Goats Peak,
- and potential infill in our existing neighbourhood
- A number of neighbourhood associations held meetings this year to share common concerns and work together. A good example of this is Shannon Lake’s Neighbourhood Organization reaching out to all organizations in West Kelowna to create a West Side Emergency Responder Appreciation Committee, to organize an appreciation event for our responders. As it was important for the fire to be completely out before the fire department would be ready to participate, the city asked to delay this event, which will be held April 27, 2024. You can read about the event at Okanagan Wildfire Responders Gratitude Event (okanaganwildfire2023.ca). Any support from our members will be very appreciated.
- Several of the requests to our transportation department have been addressed, such as no parking to the corner signs to create better visibility at corners where boats and trailers park, a crosswalk to the children’s playground on Gellatly Road, and no parking at the bottom of Angus Road. We are told that the developer of Shorerise will be creating a 4-way stop on Gellatly Road at the Cove, and as we have heard of several near misses at that intersection are hopeful this will happen soon. If you are aware of any “tweaking” that needs to be done on these or any other roads please let us know as we are happy to pass this along.
- As part of our presentation to the Committee of the Whole at West Kelowna City Council, we advocated for council to ensure that the community garden and fenced dog parks neighbouring our community were relocated in an area accessible to Gellatly Bay Goats Peak. As we know that many residents of our community utilize these, we are happy to see they will be moved to a different part of the same field. View the association’s full presentation slides here.
Our goal is that the community of Gellatly Bay, Goats Peak has a “Voice” and we truly appreciate your support through being a member of the community association, writing letters, and participating in city opportunities for feedback. New members and new board members are always welcome! Please contact gellatlybaycommunity@gmail.com .
Gellatly Bay Goats Peak Community Association 