What would you do with $48 million a year to fix transportation in Kelowna?
The City is currently in the process of developing the Transportation Master Plan and is asking the public to weigh in on their preferences.
Residents are being invited to build their own Transportation Master Plan using an online budget allocator tool, council heard Monday.
Staff identified options, sorted them into categories and bundled them into prices for you to choose from.
Transportation Planning Manager Mariah VanZerr said residents will be able to review descriptions of options under consideration and identify their preferred levels of investment for each category.
“As residents use the tool, they will have the opportunity to dial investment levels up or down in each category to show their preference. If residents would like to increase spending to improve transportation faster or decrease to maintain taxation levels, the tool permits them to do so, while providing information regarding trade-offs associated with property taxation and alignment with the City's plans for growth,” said Vanzerr.
Categories are listed as Education and Incentive Programs, Maintenance and Renewal, Neighbourhood Streets, Biking, Shared Mobility, Transit, Multi-modal Corridors, Road Improvements and the Clement/HWY 33 Extension.
As you go along and make selections, you may go over budget, in which case a notification will pop up asking if you wish to proceed or adjust your choices.
Planner Cameron Noonan added the intent of the tool was not to constrain people by the $48 million budget but to give them a better understanding of how much projects can cost.
“We wanted to make sure they had some sense of the potential property tax implications of those budget increases so, for the budget, we give them a very high level estimate of how property taxes might change given that budget,” said Noonan.
Mayor Colin Basran encourages everyone to get involved.
He said transportation is top of mind for many residents and always ranks very high in the citizen surveys.
“This feedback is crucial for our future planning and for our community because we will essentially be making major decisions based on the feedback we get back from our residents over the coming weeks,” said Basran.
The survey takes 15 to 20 minutes and once completed, participants are entered to win a $750 gift card to a Kelowna bicycle shop of their choice.
The interactive tool went live on Monday and will be open for input until December 6th.
After 3 weeks, city staff will collect the data and return to council with a comprehensive idea in early 2020.
https://transportationmasterplan.budgetallocator.com/
Upcoming Public Engagments:
Monday, November 25th 11:30a.m - 1:30p.m at UBCO in the Engineering building.
Saturday, November 30th 9a.m - 1p.m at the Winter Farmers and Crafters Market at Parkinson Recreation Center.