Kelowna unlikely to pay more for railway

Ron Seymour Kekowna Daily Courier Sunday, March 1, 2015 9:17 pm
Kelowna is unlikely to provide the full amount necessary to buy an abandoned rail corridor through Lake Country, a top city official says. The city has already pledged to cover half the up-front costs of $5.1 million, and likely wouldn’t sign on for the full amount, Doug Gilchrist says. “No, I don’t think that’s really an option,” Gilchrist said Sunday. “Coming up with other $2.5 million, that’s really up to Lake Country to figure out.” But Gilchrist was optimistic CN would agree to an extension of the purchase agreement’s deadline so Lake Country could hold a referendum on the municipality’s plan to borrow the necessary funds. “CN has been quite willing to work with us so far on this,” Gilchrist said. “They understand that these are complex deals and things can come up.” At a Tuesday night meeting, Lake Country council will decide how to move forward on an inter-jurisdictional local government effort to buy the Vernon-Kelowna rail corridor from CN for $22 million. Preliminary plans to borrow the money were defeated when 960 Lake Country residents signed petitions against the idea. Under provincial law, the signatures of 931 people — representing 10 per cent of the town’s voters — were necessary to stop the initiative. The tentative agreement to transfer ownership of the abandoned railway from CN to local government set a deadline of April 1 for the deal to be concluded. There isn’t enough time for Lake Country to hold a referendum on the borrowing bylaw before then, so CN would have to agree to an extension. Gilchrist, who has led the municipal efforts to buy the corridor, said he expected to have an answer within a few days from CN on its willingness to provide such an extension. Another option for Lake Country council would be to ask Kelowna to increase its contribution for acquiring the rail corridor. Kelowna has already agreed to pick up half of Lake Country’s $5.1 million share through a loan that has no specified repayment timetable.