Is Kelowna doing enough to protect green space? Depends how you look at it

A study lamenting Kelowna for losing significant portions of green space in recent years is misleading and flawed in its findings, according to city staff.

And while criticisms leveled against it may have merit, environmental hawks warn protection efforts must be closely monitored.

City hall was taken aback recently by a report from Statistics Canada that found the city had shed one-quarter of its green space over the last 20 years.

StatsCan researchers examined satellite photos of several large cities across Canada from 2001, 2011 and 2019, to determine how green they were. Things like parks, urban trees, backyards, and lawns were analyzed.

It found Kelowna had gone from nearly three-quarters green in 2001 to just 48 per cent in 2019. It chalked up the bulk of the loss to urban development spurred by the massive boom in the city’s population.

“While we’ve definitely had some losses to development and human factors, the study is pretty flawed in giving an accurate description of the decline in green space,” Urban Forester Tara Bergeson told Kelowna10.

Worried about the findings, she said the city asked for more details from the national agency.

Fire, drought, bugs drive green space loss

To begin with, she said 2001 was one of the wettest years on record, providing a misleading baseline. Near drought scenarios were present in 2011 and 2019, skewing data, as plants must be actively photosynthesizing to be measured. Dead or dormant grass, for example, registers as ‘greyness.’

Records show Kelowna had 327.1 mm of rain in 2001, compared to 235 mm in 2011 and 257 in 2019.

Beyond that, Bergeson said the studied areas were not entirely within the city’s boundary. West Kelowna and Myra Bellevue were included, the later of which fell victim to the Okanagan Mountain wildfire in 2003. The mountain pine beetle and other agitators have had a strain on the urban forest, too.

“That’s the big challenge with any broad level study like that, you are really missing that local nuance,” she said.

In fact, according to city research, the canopy actually grew from 2011 to 2019, exceeding targets laid out in the 2030 Official Community Plan (OCP). This paved the way for more ambitious targets in the recently adopted 2040 OCP.

She said balancing growth with protecting the urban canopy is a top priority for city hall, pointing to recent policy put in place. The city has bolstered its tree protection bylaw and detailed extensive goals in the 2040 OCP pertaining to green space, she said.

While there was initial concern among staff at the findings, Bergeson said it allowed them to step back and examine their practices.

“I’m all for being challenged as to the current status,” she said. “But in this case, it didn’t hold water, which was a sigh of relief.”

Protection efforts must be closely watched

John Janmaat is with UBCO’s department of economics, philosophy, and political science. His research is focused on the environment and natural resource economics.

The professor said the city’s aspirational goals for maintaining and enhancing green space are clear and well-meaning but worries they could easily be sidestepped and stymied. Documents like the OCP are subject to amendments and developers often apply for exemptions or propose alternate plans.

“If the city is going to stay firm to what the OCP says, it needs a council that is going to follow the OCP and that council needs to know that if they do so, there are voters in the next election who will support them,” he said.

Janmaat applauded the city for working to densify downtown, but worried too little new space is being set aside for things like parks. He said densification needs to be paired with an ability to easily spend time with nature.

“People who come out of their 30-storey high rise, shouldn’t have to travel a long way to find a park that isn’t overcrowded,” he said, while acknowledging the city recognizes this dilemma in the 2040 OCP.

He also urged adherence to what is known as environmental justice. This involves considering adequate green space access for people of different incomes, specifically for those with middle- and lower-incomes.

Simple metrics, like measuring the amount of green space per capita for the entire city, he said, doesn’t consider equal distribution. He said measuring the amount of green space within a certain walking distance from someone’s home could be a better gauge of success.

This lends everyone the ability to access space that is beneficial to both their mental and physical health.

“Are we putting in linear parks and all these other things around the expensive housing and then creating these sorts of low-income prisons with no access to green space elsewhere in the city,” he said.

Parks can bring a litany of economic benefits, too, he said. Besides added productivity from healthy people, park space makes a city more attractive, boosts housing prices, and plays crucial roles in the fight against climate change.

Balancing needs

However, developers are not on the receiving end of many of these benefits, he said.

“That creates this kind of tension,” he said. “How do we achieve these objectives which are good for the overall city but are not in the interests of the individuals who are doing the development.”

This can create a dilemma as enhanced policy in Kelowna can drive builders to neighbouring communities. Here, Janmaat said, is where the provincial government could step in to help.

He said the province could require a certain amount of green space in every community. This would remove the worry developers will pick up and leave if one city strengthens local rules.

The province, he said, is moving forward on this, requiring things like climate change be discussed at the local level, but not fast enough.

“There are positive signs, so I’m not totally without hope,” he said. “But we have to remain vigilant as well.”

Ultimately, he said, the future lies with the voter. He said the current slate of lawmakers has done well slowing some projects developers thought they could go ahead with but said overly pro-development councillors could change things.

“While the OCP looks great, they amend it all over the place to let things go ahead,” he said. “The public has to understand that.”