VIDEO: Lake Country mayor shocked by massive growth projection

A recent StatsBC report, says the province is expecting a 44% population increase over the next 24 years.

It's a big number. But in the young municipality of Lake Country, the prediction is almost double that at 87%.

"How are we going to do that?" asks, Mayor Blair Ireland.

"Putting another 20 thousand residents in Lake Country," he questions.

"That's a big ask."

He agrees there's still a lot of potential to build out what he refers to as "the old Winfield," or the downtown core.

"That redevelopment is being looked at now," he said.

"But 20,000 people is a ton of people."

It certainly can't all be crowded into the central part of the sprawling municipality.

"It's going to have to look at all the different areas of Lake Country, but without the infrastructure to support it, we don't know where it could go."

Ireland said it simply can't happen without a huge investment in an already strained infrastructure for water and sewer.

"Massive," he said.

"We can't do that without those government grants, but where are they?" he asks.

"They don't seem to be coming very quickly."

Ireland said he understands there is a real need for more housing.

"We need to have affordable housing in the community, we don't have a lot of it."

But Ireland complains that the municipality has been playing a game of catch-up since it was incorporated 35 years ago.

"The province didn't even give us the money to support the road network."

What makes Lake Country such a popular choice for people?

Ireland suggests it's seen as a safe place to raise a family.

"We don't have a whole lot of crime," he said.

Still, the 87% growth projection by 2046 is a shocker.

"I don't know how they develop these stats or what they base them on," he said.

"We're prepared to meet the housing targets that have been set but this is far beyond that."

Lake Country is over 122 square kilometres in size, but half of it is within the Agricultural Land Reserve, so that doesn't help the municipality grow, and neither does a notable lack of public transit.

"It's unviable for people to use transit, so it's hard to have density because everybody needs a car."

We will see whether the StatsBC predictions materialize over the next 24 years.

Ireland has agreed to sit down with KelownaNow in 2046 to discuss how it all turned out.