Funding for major Glenmore Road upgrades questioned

Are taxpayers on the hook for road upgrades in the coming decade that otherwise should have been paid for by a developer?

No, according to city staff.

The question and comments come in the wake of a letter distributed to media and members of city council ahead of the 2040 Transportation Master Plan (TMP) coming up for adoption Monday afternoon.

At the heart of the debate, the cost to make a portion of Glenmore Road four lanes.

Peter Truch, an engineer and former Green Party of Canada candidate for Kelowna West, said approval of the TMP would negate a service agreement signed between the city and the developer of McKinley Beach in 2009. The agreement covered the portion of the road between Union and McKinley Road.

He claimed the agreement put the burden of the multi-million-dollar project on the back of the developer, given the additional traffic on Glenmore the housing development would create. He said approval of the TMP would shift the $31.4 million price tag to the Kelowna taxpayer.

He accused staff and lawmakers of quietly including the project “within the TMP scope of projects as Glenmore Road Four-Laning and Glenmore Road Safety Improvements, rather than obligating the developer to fulfill the 2009 agreement.”

Truch claimed requests for clarity have gone unanswered or been ignored.

Asked bluntly about this by lawmakers, City Manager Doug Gilchrist shot down the notion of nefarious dealings, saying Truch’s correspondence “quite conveniently” left out details about how the original agreement allowed amendments for changes over time.

“Those changes have been quite significant,” he said, pointing to the addition of John Hindle Drive and additional commuting between Lake Country and Kelowna. “The background traffic, as it is referred to, has increased exponentially and the traffic associated with the development has not.”

He said an adjustment needed to be made to make sure everything was fair and funded.

Further, the road has been identified as being regionally significant, and as such, most of the work will be funded by the community at large.

According to the TMP, four-laning Glenmore Road from Union Road to John Hindle Drive, and safety improvements from John Hindle to Lake Country, won’t begin until 2031 to 2035.