Read the statement below, then add your name online — or print the petition to collect signatures door-to-door. Every verified local address makes this harder for Council to dismiss.
Kelowna’s Lower Mission neighbourhood has historically been a single-family home community. It is home to families with small children and has multiple daycares, elementary schools, and a high school. Two of only three arterial roads providing access to Kelowna’s downtown core from the significant developments of the Upper Mission bisect the neighbourhood and pass by those schools. These arterial roads are already inadequate for the volume of traffic now congesting them every morning and evening, with no ability to expand them.
Under a provincial mandate to increase density, Kelowna City Council is considering an application to amend the Official Community Plan (OCP) and rezone lots along Gordon Drive — application OCP25-0023 / Z25-0053, at 4482 & 4498 Gordon Drive. The proposal is for a 65-unit, three-storey townhouse development with rooftop patios (effectively four storeys), changing the zoning to MF2 (Townhouse Housing) and the OCP designation from S-RES (Suburban Residential) to S-MU (Suburban Multiple Unit).
This increase in density will add significantly to the already congested roads and further increase the threat to the safety and wellbeing of the children walking and cycling to school along these arterial roads.
In addition, three-storey townhouses with rooftop decks on these lots will drastically alter the character of the neighbourhood. Existing developments in the area all provide a transition from single-family homes to multi-family housing; this proposal does not, and will severely intrude on the privacy of neighbouring properties.
We entreat Kelowna City Council to deny the application to amend the Official Community Plan and the rezoning application, and to ensure that any development on these lots transitions from and blends in with the current character of the neighbourhood.
There are now two online petitions, and either one helps. We’d gently suggest the new one below: it records your civic address — the detail Council actually weighs when judging local support — and it comes straight to us with no donation prompts. Our original Change.org petition is still open too, so if you’ve already signed there, your name still counts. Use whichever you prefer.
Our original petition lives on Change.org and already carries many signatures — we’re keeping it open so none of them are lost. It doesn’t collect civic addresses, which is the main reason we now point people to the form above, but a signature there still adds to the public record of opposition.
Already signed — on paper or on Change.org — or just want updates without signing again? Get updates & volunteer →
Going door-to-door, or gathering names in person? Print the petition sheet, collect each neighbour’s name, civic address, and signature, and return it before 4:00 PM, Monday June 22 — hand it to a neighbourhood organizer, or deliver it to the Office of the City Clerk, 1435 Water Street.
Petitions show breadth of support. Individual letters, in your own words, are what Council weighs most heavily. If you have ten minutes, send one too — before 4:00 PM, Monday June 22.