More than ten per cent of Lake Country citizens vetoed the acquisition of a $2.6 million loan for the purchase of the rail trail corridor. The alternative approval process came to a close at 12:00 p.m. on Monday and results were validated by the District Corporate Officer.
A total of 1068 votes were counted, however; 108 of those votes were deemed disqualified. The final vote count was 960 qualified electors, which is enough to oppose the borrowing bylaw. As a result, the loan authorization bylaw might not be adopted.
Council is set to receive a determination of results for the process during a Tuesday evening council meeting and discuss the District's next steps in terms of the quashed loan and rail trail project. The District is proposing the acquisition of the Okanagan Rail Corridor land be referred back to staff and the Inter-jurisdictional Acquisition Team for recommendations on options to purchase the Corridor.
The loan authorization bylaw would have given the green light to Lake Country Council to borrow up to $2,615,000 to fund the purchase of a 50 per cent share of 16 kilometres of the Okanagan Rail Corridor within District boundaries.
Photo credit: Lake Country contributed.
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