Several city councillors are still unhappy about implementing the provincial governmentsa国际传媒檚 new housing legislation.

Following a staff report at Mondaysa国际传媒檚 (Apr 15) meeting, they said they had no choice but to vote in favour of amendments to zoning bylaws and the Official Community Plan (OCP) to implement the provincial governmentsa国际传媒檚 new housing legislation.

sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檙e losing more and more control here at the council level with the authority taken away by the province,sa国际传媒� said Councillor Ron Cannan, who also voiced concerns about delegating sa国际传媒渁ll the powers for the city to staff.sa国际传媒�

READ MORE: Frustration and acceptance for Kelowna council on housing legislation

One of the main sticking points is that council can no longer request a public hearing if a residential development application is consistent with the OCP. It can only approve or deny rezoning at the application stage.

Developments that meet the OCP could be left to staff discretion.

sa国际传媒淚t precludes us from doing our duty,sa国际传媒� said Coun. Mohini Singh. sa国际传媒淚t takes away the ability for us to serve the needs of our community, but we have no choice.sa国际传媒�

Coun. Gord Lovegrove agreed but noted that staff need councilsa国际传媒檚 support.

sa国际传媒淚sa国际传媒檓 seeing our staff under a lot of strain to get the changes made, they are the experts. I trust them.sa国际传媒�

Coun. Luke Stack reminded his colleagues of where their authority comes from.

sa国际传媒淭he only authority we have in the first place was given to us by our provincial government. We are losing some of the freedoms that wesa国际传媒檝e enjoyed but in essence, the only thing we as a municipal government can do is what the provincial government allows us to do.sa国际传媒�

Councillors Hodge and Cannon were the only ones opposed to giving three readings to the amendments.

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