琉璃神社鈥檚 mayor feels the community has given council a strong mandate to move forward with building recreation facilities in the city.
At Monday鈥檚 (Oct. 16) regular meeting council adopted the loan authorization bylaw to borrow $241.3 million to redevelop the Parkinson Recreation Centre (PRC) and improve other facilities in the city.
鈥淥nly 3.5 per cent of our population came out鈥hat puts basically another 96.5 per cent that feel potentially different about advancing this project,鈥� said Tom Dyas.
The city used the Alternate Approval Process (AAP) in asking residents if they supported borrowing the money.
In order for it to fail, 10 per cent (12,160) of residents would need to vote against.
After the AAP deadline at 4 p.m. Oct. 13, only 4,153 residents had voted no.
There were 216 ballots that were deemed invalid.
Reasons ranged from people who do not live in the City of 琉璃神社 submitting a ballot, those who signed a form more than once, non-existent addresses, and forms that were filled out improperly, according to City Clerk Stephen Flemming.
An organized campaign against borrowing the money accused the city of not being transparent about financing the recreation projects and petitioned for a referendum instead of the AAP.
READ MORE: Deadline to oppose spending $241M on 琉璃神社 recreation looms
鈥淚 would truly like to thank and appreciate all those individuals who felt differently with regards to this project and made their voice heard,鈥� Dyas said.
鈥淧lease understand that every decision we make is based on what we believe as councillors is best for our community and best for our residents.鈥�
Coun. Ron Cannan, who also called for a referendum on the project, was the lone vote against adopting the borrowing bylaw.
鈥淚 appreciate the opportunity to agree to disagree on the situation,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a democratic process we can disagree whether it鈥檚 fair and transparent.
Cannan added that he agrees the PRC needs to be replaced and supports investment in arts and culture in the community.
The PRC redevelopment is expected to cost 84 per cent of the $287.5 million for all the projects the city has planned.
As well, $36 million has been set aside for the Glenmore and Mission activity centres, $4.5 million for Rutland Recreation Park and $5 million for partnerships with UBC Okanagan and Okanagan College.
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