Dear Rutland Residents June 19, 2019
Hope everyone is enjoying the great weather and for those of you that hate hot weather my condolences.
Since our AGM in January, our association has worked on several important issues that are both ongoing and new. The two top issues are:- the building of a new Rutland Middle School and- a stronger input and consultation channel between our Rutland community and Council concerning new development in our area.
RMS: For over 20 years a new RMS has been at the top of the priority list for Capital cost projects with SD 23. However, irrespective of the dire need for a new school, the go ahead for construction is perpetually bypassed while other areas in our district have received the necessary funding for new middle school builds. The most recent new middle schools include, H.S. Grenda Middle School for Lake Country and Canyon Falls Junior Middle School in the Mission area. Our association will host a meeting between two school trustees and the executive of the PAC groups in the RMS catchment area. This meeting will provide these two stake holders to come up with more effective strategies to bring a fully modern RMS into fruition. At this point, the building is getting a washroom on the second floor, this small token is indeed small compensation compared to a new build.
Projects on Hyper Drive: Rutland has seen an extraordinary amount of growth that are, in some cases, pushed through in an inordinately quick manner. A number of these builds have garnered a good deal of criticism. For example, Rutland has a disproportionate number of low barrier Supportive Housing builds when compared to other areas of Kelowna and there are more scheduled to come on stream.
Continuing the vein of supportive housing, our organization has had small forums in which the public has been invited to listen to the major groups involved in some of these more controversial builds to field questions regarding these projects. To this end, at our March meeting we invited and were fortunate enough to have in attendance the Regional Director for BC Housing, the Coordinator for BC Housing and a Director for the John Howard Society. These guest speakers spoke to the rational behind these Supportive Housing projects and answered questions and concerns regarding the number of projects in Rutland as well as the vetting process used for people that will be offered units in these complexes. Many of our members voiced concerns regarding safety issues for the surrounding neighbourhoods where these low barrier supportive housing units will be built.
The Rutland Residents Association continues to bring issues ranging from development to crime and safety to the attention of our Municipal Council. Although, we are small in terms of membership, we have been effective in terms of spotlighting major issues in the Rutland community for the past 25 years.
Hopefully, we can grow our membership to give us the capability of being even more effective in serving our Rutland Community.
Peter Pagliocchini (President Rutland Residents Association)
Email: info@rutlandresidentsassociation.ca or ppaglioc@hotmail.com
OR
Sharlene Drohomereski (Secretary) Email: secretary@rutlandresidentsassociationassociation.ca (for membership forms).