By Scott TrudeauMonday, June 18, 2007 Penticton Herald
Results of a referendum which supported Kelowna‘s Westside forming its own municipality leaves the future of regional districts in the Okanagan Valley in question said Penticton mayor Jake Kimberley. On Saturday by a margin of only 342 votes – 5,924 residents favoured incorporation compared to 5,582 who wanted amalgamation with Kelowna. “I congratulate them on deciding that because there has been for a number of years a question as to how Westbank is going to continue in its present administration out of the regional district,” said Kimberley on Sunday.
“That still leaves the question in everybody‘s mind as to what happens with the Central Okanagan Regional District (CORD).” Kimberley noted how leading up the referendum in talking with Kelowna mayor Sharon Sheppard and other politicians, it was casually discussed whether or not CORD would continue to operate in the same fashion or if it could be disbanded at some point in time. “Recognizing of course that Westbank represented a huge piece of the Central Okanagan‘s responsibility, with that decision being made it leaves a very few small areas that the Central Okanagan Regional District will have to administer from my understanding of the topography and the layout up there with regards to the boundaries,” said Kimberley. “There is a question to be asked there as to what will happen to that situation and that‘s something we‘ll be watching closely from here on.” The Westbank area was able to develop as it did largely in part due to the management and administration of the regional district said the mayor. “I think that was paramount and was the reasoning behind this vote,‘ Kimberley said. “It was becoming more and more difficult for them to administer such a large population and deal with the road and infrastructures issues.” Doug Findlater, who led a committee which performed a four-year governance study, had stated previously that “Westside needs different tools, those which come with municipal status, to overcome limitations of our current status.”
Kimberley noted how the growth of the Central Okanagan area seems to have culminated in the loss of the jurisdiction of the regional district. “Now this decision will also do the same, so I think that‘s in everybody‘s interest as to how we grow and where that growth will go and how it will impact the regional function,” he said. Saturday‘s outcome will play a future role in areas of Penticton such as Naramata, Kaleden, Skaha Estates and the West Bench. “I think that‘s something that has to be watched closely in regards to those areas because they are becoming large enough to have their own administration,” said Kimberley, citing a recent story in the Herald discussing the feasibility of Okanagan Falls incorporating with Penticton. Kimberley admitted being somewhat surprised as to the outcome. “I was surprised that they wouldn‘t agree to amalgamate with Kelowna,” he said. “That was the indicators I was getting from what was being discussed around the politicians that I was associating with over the last week that would be the case.” The incorporation becomes official in November, when an election for a Westside mayor and the formation of a city council will take place.
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