Audra Boudreau had a short meeting with Mayor Colin Basran and five city councilors with her 13,000-name petition shortly before this afternoon's city council meeting.

(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)

KELOWNA - Mayor Colin Basran has called for a special Kelowna city council meeting at 4 p.m. Wednesday to give the city more time to try to get B.C. Housing to change its mind on a proposed supportive housing project for McCurdy Road.

Audra Boudreau, the driving force behind a 13,000 signature petition campaign against the McCurdy Road supportive housing project had a brief, private audience with Basran and five council members shortly before the council meeting today, July 15.

“I think this (announcement) is a positive step,” she said after Basran told council about the Wednesday meeting. “My question would be, if they are not able to get a rock-solid commitment in writing from B.C. Housing, then what will happen?

Council approved a development permit for the project on June 17. Residents reacted strongly against the fact that tenants will be allowed to consume drugs and alcohol in their rooms, which are close to a number of schools.

The petition, which is addressed to the provincial government, garnered more than 13,000 signatures from Kelowna and specifically asks “that the Honourable House cease this development at 130 McCurdy Rd in Kelowna immediately, so that our children and seniors can be safe in their own residential neighbourhoods.”

Boudreau has been calling for B.C. Housing to consider seniors or other affordable housing for the site, which is part of B.C. Housing’s mandate. She said the design of the housing units would suit that type of housing, so the project does not need to be delayed. Site preparation has already started.

The quick special meeting is needed because council only has 30 days since the June 17 approval to vote on whether to reconsider the development permit and the rezoning. Basran said it will give the city more time to lobby B.C. Housing. Council has already approved the supportive housing project. It's unclear if they are reversing their position or precisely what changes they are lobbying for.

"I have been told by one councillor that the city is trying to persuade B.C. Housing to agree to low-income housing for this site, though Mayor Basran today did not specify the ‘alternate use’ that they were discussing with them," Boudreau said in a Facebook post following the meeting, stressing that having the project changed to a "dry" facility that did not allow for drug or alcohol use on site would not be enough, since that designation could be changed back again in the future.

"It is important to note that if they are not able to put together an enforceable use contract, attachable to, or contained within, any permits for the property, limiting its use to low-income housing, by Wednesday at 4 p.m., we will be in the exact same place we are now," she wrote. "I will be communicating to them, via email, that our expectation in that case would be that a short temporary repeal of the rezoning be done on Wednesday, to allow them time to establish and attach enforceable terms of use to the property, restricting it to low-income housing only. A councillor has told me that this route would simply result in the rezoning going through the approval process rather quickly the second time, in approximately 3-4 weeks."

If council or B.C. Housing does not get the project’s nature changed, Boudreau pledged to restart the petition drive and expects to collect as many as 40,000 signatures by the time it can be presented to the provincial legislature in October.

Audra Boudreau before heading into a private meeting the the Mayor and some councilors.

(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)

 - This story was updated at 5:10 p.m. to add comments from Audra Boudreau's Facebook post.

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