Protests took to petition campaigning as almost 13,000 Kelowna residents signed their opposition to the McCurdy Road supportive housing project.
(SEAN MOTT / iNFOnews.ca)
July 12, 2019 - 2:30 PM
KELOWNA - Technically the Rutland for Safe Neighbourhoods’ petition campaign against the McCurdy Road supportive housing project fell short of its 13,000 target.
But, not by much.
In all, the organizers collected 12,984 eligible signatures from Kelowna residents, campaign organizer Audra Boudreau said in a Facebook post.
“There were signatures from ALL OVER this great city, from neighbourhoods you wouldn't have thought we had support from,” she posted.
The 13,000 target was a rough estimate of what 10 per cent of Kelowna’s population would be.
There were another 873 signatures from B.C. residents living outside Kelowna and 13 who were out of province or out of country. She also counted 277 ineligible signatures out of the 14,147 total signatures collected in the 15-day campaign.
She expects a few more signatures to trickle in over the weekend.
“The ball is now in (city) council's court for next steps,” she posted. “Hopefully they will listen to their constituents' concerns and input, and stop this wet facility from moving forward."
The petition is addressed to the provincial government but cannot be presented there until the legislature sits on October. It has no legal weight with Kelowna city council but campaigners hope a motion will be made at Monday’s council meeting calling for reconsideration of the development permit and zoning for the site.
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