Citizens for Responsible Community Planning rejects the population growth rate assumptions for Kelowna implicit in the Kelowna Official Community Plan 2020. CRCP affirms that allowing Kelowna to grow above 150,000 residents by the year 2020 will exacerbate many of the problems Kelowna is presently facing by increasing traffic congestion, further burdening our imperiled eco-system while undermining our cherished sense of community. CRCP calls for a reworking of the OCP to emphasize the following goals:
- That the over-riding goal be the greater good of the community as opposed to the good of any particular interest group, neighbourhood, or individuals.
- To preserve and promote the existence of community and the inclusion of all residents as members of that community.
- To allow only that growth that acknowledges our place within and is respectful of our natural environment with all of its ecological and aesthetic aspects.
- To make Kelowna a sustainable community - physically, socially, environmentally, and economically.
- To provide residents with a variety of residential housing types built at healthy densities and to a human scale.
- To provide for earlier and more meaningful public input into the planning process.
- To preserve the fundamental character of existing neighbourhoods.