Rail loan opponents 12% of way to goal in Lake Country

Posted: Friday, January 30, 2015 6:29 pm Kelowna Daily Courier:
Opponents of the railway purchase in Lake Country have surpassed 10 per cent of their goal. Staff had collected 112 petitions by Friday afternoon. Those against the district’s plan to borrow $2.6 million toward the purchase must convince at least 932 adults to sign the forms by Feb. 23 or it will go ahead. Under the alternate approval process, 10 per cent of the municipality’s voters must petition against the proposal. If they do, council will abandon the plan or hold a referendum. Last week, 135 residents attended two open houses hosted by district staff. People were well-informed and opponents had their say, said district spokesperson Karen Miller. “Maybe they own property on both sides of the rail corridor and they’d hope they would have an opportunity to maybe purchase that themselves if the municipality didn’t,” she said. Others are concerned about their taxes going up. Some wondered if they can ride a horse along the corridor — a question no one can answer until the alternate approval process ends in three weeks. “You have to acquire something before you can plan for it,” Miller said. “It doesn’t have to be that all the details are nailed down right at the beginning.” If approved, the average property owner would pay $27 more each year over 20 years based on today’s level of taxation, she said. Lake Country and other local governments want to buy the abandoned 48-kilometre railway corridor that extends from Kelowna to Vernon for $22 million. Kelowna is chipping in $2.5 million toward the Lake Country purchase by selling surplus lands. The city’s own share is $7.6 million. In total, local governments, including Coldstream and the North Okanagan regional district, are contributing $14.7 million. The province is expected to cover the rest.