A loss of heritage

Re: Lamenting loss of heritage

A letter to Kelowna City council and particular Luke Stack.

I had to wait almost a month to settle down to write this letter, Luke Stack you infuriate me with your comments.

To quote Luke Stack: “I was disappointed to hear people misaligning other peoples motives tonight”, To bring up and suggest people have certain motives I think is improper."

This quote comes from the Kelowna Daily Courier Heritage Catch-22 article dated August 15, 2020.

What is improper is you and city council allowing this to happen.

When people purchase property in the heritage area, that is where it is, not another of the hundreds of neighbourhoods in Kelowna, it is the heritage area.  he price of admission is that, Keep properties heritage, Period.

It appears that if you come and “cry” in front of city council you get what you want.

Say what you will about the buyers, they must do their due diligence in the property they are purchasing and be able to afford it.  I’d like to be a member of the “on the lake group” the price of admission is above me so guess what, I don’t live there.  Being heritage and keeping it that way should be the cost of living in the heritage area.

I can site many homes in the heritage area where the owners paid the price to have a home in the area, building and renovating to fit.

Mr Stack, people are going to be called out for their motives and it will get personal, the reason for that is the perception YOU and Council have created, it looks like you are being played like a fiddle by developers. Stand up for the Heritage area, there are hundreds of other areas for development in Kelowna.

Did your common sense not get aroused when the “developer” said, “we were looking for a parcel of land”?

The property on the corner of Park Ave and Long should be what the purchaser said it was going to be, a renovated heritage home, if not a new design that fits the heritage concept, not subdivided.

Your job is to support all people of Kelowna, old, new, high density, commercial and parkland.

We have seen more than 3 properties purchased and then up for development, commercial on the bottom, condos on the top, subdivided lots, major changes to usage after the first presentation.

Currently the big house across from the hospital on Pandosy is going to have only part of the outside preserved, what kind of Heritage is that?  Why isn’t City Council saying NO, renovate the whole building, it was purchased knowingly as a Heritage house, keep it that way as what was originally planned.

Luke Stack and City Council, protect the small part of Kelowna that is still “Old Kelowna”, those of us that live here have a lot of respect for the Heritage area, and you certainly should as well, in my view you do not.

In closing, the disappointment is actually Luke Stack and City Council not taking care of business in the Heritage area, sometimes a hard line NO is what leaders do.  Not blame people for speaking up against what appears to be “timely manipulation” in favor of development.

Remember the old school house on Pandosy, you did a fine job of protecting that.

Dave McClellan