BX Ranch Trail (photo credit: Ribbons of Green)

By Kevin Rothwell

Consultants told to take another look

Back to the drawing board for Trails and Open Spaces plan

Apr 16, 2021 | 7:00 AM

The consultants working on the Greater Vernon Trails and Natural Spaces Master Plan have been told to reboot, following a presentation to a special meeting of the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee.

RC Strategies presented a 250 page draft report and research report to GVAC, that was to have been stage four of a five phase process, but has been sent back to phase two.

“Looking at your report, I have to say, right from the beginning I was incredibly disappointed. I didn’t expect a coffee table book, I expected detailed analysis,” Vernon Mayor Victor Cumming said.

Project Status (photo credit: RC Strategies)

The report indicated the just 0.27 per cent of Greater Vernon open spaces were protected, and very few people were within one kilometre of a natural space.

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“Your comment about how many people are within one kilometre of a natural space, made me chuckle, and then you went on to say this is a concern. Wow, if you are actually going to use that as your foundation for analysis, you better include all the natural spaces,” Cumming admonished.

Cumming noted the report had not taken into account provincial parks, crown land, beaches and the Okanagan Rail Trail.

On the research side, the consultants conducted 20 community stakeholder interviews, 974 household surveys, 40 conservation kiosk visitors and 374 online mapping application responses.

Master Plan survey results (photo credit: RC Strategies)

The consultants have been asked to provide more comprehensive analysis, and work with RDNO staff to bring back additional information in a timely fashion.