Parkinson Recreation Centre.

(JOHN MCDONALD / iNFOnews.ca)

The opposition to the alternative approval process to approve a $242 million loan to rebuild Parkinson Recreation Centre is growing.

But the mayor and council are not willing to talk about it as the Friday, Oct. 13, deadline to get petitions of opposition into City Hall rapidly approaches.

Last week, the Concerned Kelowna Residents for Financial Accountability sent an email to Mayor Tom Dyas and council members raising concerns about details on how names should be printed on the petition form.

The next day, the group also emailed the mayor and council asking that a public meeting be held on the issue and the approval process be delayed until residents can be better informed.

“We requested that they respond by the end of business day, Oct. 4, because of the fast approaching Oct. 13, deadline and the critical nature of this,” Susan Ames, founder of the citizen’s group, said in an email sent to media yesterday. “They chose not to respond.”

iNFOnews.ca has tried to reach the mayor for a comment.

“He sent me a message yesterday saying he is not commenting on the alternative approval process,” Tom Wilson, the city’s media relations manager said in an email to iNFOnews.ca.

The city wants to spend $287.5 million to rebuild Parkinson Recreation Centre ($180 plus $62 million for “site works and off sites” for a total of $242 million), improve community activity centres ($36 million), and Rutland Recreational Park ($4.5 million) as well as setting up a UBCO/Okanagan College partnership ($4 million).

READ MORE: Kelowna wants to spend nearly $300M on recreation facilities including Parkinson rebuild

If approved, that would be funded by a $242 million loan (paid for by tax increases over the next five years and continuing for a total of 30 years), $4 million per year from the Kelowna Legacy Fund and $13 million in provincial government grants.

READ MORE: How Kelowna expects to pay a $241 million loan at only $100 per household per year

This is the city’s largest capital expenditure by far. The past record high was the $48 million RCMP building that also went through the alternative approval process in 2014, rather than a referendum.

A referendum requires residents to go out and vote in favour or against a major project while the alternative approval process requires 10% of voters (12,160 in this case) to submit petitions on specific forms opposing the project.

Those forms have triggered one of the objections the citizen’s groups has, since it requires voters to print out their full middle name(s) rather than just normal first and last names.

The provincial government specifies that the full name has to be printed out but does not define whether that means all middle names or initials.

“While a referendum adheres to basic democratic norms, notably secret ballots, people who fill out alternative approval process forms enjoy no privacy or anonymity,” the citizen’s group says in its email to mayor and council. “Are you surprised that many people with business before City Hall are refusing to submit AAP forms?”

Certainly there are posts on social media outlets, like the Rutland for Safe Neighbourhoods Facebook group, that not only show growing concern about this project but include comments from some saying they refuse to send give out their personal details.

Another charge, that is not being answered because of the city’s silence, is the basic cost of the proposed 148,673 square foot structure.

The opponants say that works out to $1,200 per square foot versus the $500 to $800 square foot cost in Vernon.

Another contention is that the total cost of the loan, with interest, over the 30-year financing plan will be $490 million.

“You have said that $144 million from Kelowna’s Legacy Fund could be used to offset some of the debt-repayment costs,” the letter to mayor and council says. “As those funds are redirected to the Parkinson Recreation Centre, what other city works, venues or projects would have to be deferred or sacrificed?”

City documents actually show $4 million a year from the Legacy Fund, which works out to $120 million over 30 years but no one from City Hall is pointing that out or challenging any of the other accusations.

The question of what is not going to be build is relevant.

Another citizen’s group, Kelowna New Performing Arts Centre Society, is sitting quietly on the sidelines but working behind the scenes to find a way to fund a replacement for Kelowna Community Theatre since there’s nothing for it in the city’s financial plans for at least 10 more years. The society, originally, wanted it built by 2026.

READ MORE: New Kelowna performing arts centre pushed years into the future

Two years ago, the estimated cost of a new theatre was more than $75 million.

A task force was created in August to try to move that project forward. Part of its mandate is to look for funding partnerships, philanthropic opportunities and getting the public and stakeholders on board. That implies that a new theatre will have to rely on fundraising efforts rather than through tax dollars.

Given that $4 million per year from the Legacy Fund is tied up for the next 30 years, that’s not likely to be a source of much funding either.

The Legacy Fund is money set aside when the city sold its electrical utility and gas rights of way to FortisBC in 2013 and 2015. Only interest earned on that money is available for other uses.

The Concerned Kelowna Residents for Financial Accountability are also arguing that the public has not been well informed about the whole process which, they say, was buried in a city advertisement in a newspaper “that is not distributed for free.”

The eight-week alternative approval process started in mid-July and opponents point out that's when many residents are away on vacation.

The three public open houses were held during extreme heat and at inconvenient times, the group adds.

“We, the Concerned Kelowna Residents for Financial Accountability, are asking you to organize a televised public meeting at City Hall, inviting the people of Kelowna to question you — not your staff — about the biggest spending and borrowing proposal in Kelowna’s history,” the group asked of the mayor and council.

That has been met with resounding silence.

The original Sept. 15 deadline was extended to Oct. 13, only because of the wildfires in August but no more public information sessions were added.

“Were you trying to downplay the alternative approval process?” the letter asks.

The answer to that came on May 15 when city agreed to use the alternative approval process.

“A referendum is very important if the community is really speaking loudly about wanting to have a say on the issue,” Coun. Luke Stack said at that meeting. “Since this was published last week I have not received a single email for someone saying: ‘Don’t do this.’

“If there is a component that I’m not hearing, and possibly there is, we will have an opportunity to hear it through the alternative approval process and they can mount a campaign or a petition to stop us.”

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