Western Bypass protection is defeated 3-2.

Western Bypass protection is defeated 3-2. (Cunningham and Beardsell in minority - Gilroy absent. Nicol, Cochrane and Lippert in majority. Accelerated Transportation Demand measures supported in 10-25 year period. (More buses, Parking charges expanded to outlying areas.)

After a long debate at the start of the meeting it was decided to postpone the actual vote to late in the meeting when Coun. Gilroy was expected to return. When this did not occur a small further debate occurred about 4 hours into the lengthy council meeting and the question was called and voted on. Nicol and Cochrane were consistent in their opposition and Beardsell and Cunningham remained adamant in their desire that a bypass option must be part of the OCP. Mayor Lippert reiterated his desire for the Eastern Bypass suggesting that within 25 years that area would be under Vernon jurisdiction but seeing that he had no support joined Nicol and Cochrane by actually supporting a modified Western Bypass protection.

The compromise position that would have have protected the Turtle Mountain proposed road section in the North and the proposed Scott Road section in the south and left the connection part of these two segments "UNPROTECTED" (about 70% of the Western Bypass) was the solution that was accepted 3-2. This seemed to be a compromise by staff that would enshrine a decision in 25+ year portion of the transportation plan so as to make sure that the OCP could go forward in June to final public hearings.

Included in this decision was a more aggressive Transit Management Initiative in the 10-25 year part of the OCP. This would continue the Transit initiatives in the first 10 years and introduce a fee for parking option throughout Vernon.

The 0-10 year transit plan is to increase the city's yearly investment to $500,000 for the next ten years which would add a bus a year and increase the service. Sidewalk installation spending will increase from the current $100,000 to $400,000 a year, allowing for the addition of 34 kilometers of sidewalk the next 20 to 30 years. Bike and trail network spending will each rise from $100,000 to $200,000 annually, with ten trails added and 52 km of bike lanes.
--------------------
Coun. Cochrane made the interesting comment that the OCP was a living document that could be amended as required and thought that when the Provincial Government came back with their thoughts on the bypass options that this decision was always opened to be revisited. Coun. Gilroy position on this compromise is unknown at this time.

Inclusion of the Turtle Mountain and Scott Road section will be 'developer driven' and therefore will have to be included in the revised DCC project listing with an high developer tax payer ratio.

No thought was given to enshrining the WESTSIDE bypass in the OCP as a stated desire of the community to provide an alternate truck route.