Steven Henderson is not backing down in his decision to pull the Goatsa国际传媒檚 Peak development in West Kelowna.
The loss of a 1,000-unit housing development that would include an elementary school site, parkand and space for commercial businesses, has been a tough loss for West Kelowna due to the provincesa国际传媒檚 planned speculation tax.
After a long and drawn out 15-year process of getting approval and confirming building plans, Henderson is walking away from the project.
sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 not like we just came to town, we have been working on this for a very long time and now we are faced with a market place that is uncertain about how the speculation tax is going to apply to vacant property such as ours,sa国际传媒� Henderson said.
Related:West Kelowna mayor blasts premier over speculation tax
West Kelowna Mayor Doug Findlater said the loss of Goatsa国际传媒檚 Peak will deprive the city of a great deal of new construction revenue. The young city of West Kelowna has not built up the same level of reserves older municipalities have to offset the loss of revenue Goatsa国际传媒檚 Peak would have generated.
sa国际传媒淭his tax will have a major impact on West Kelowna,sa国际传媒� Findlater said. sa国际传媒淚f new development disappears, it will really hurt us.sa国际传媒�
As a result, West Kelowna council has authorized the mayor to draft a letter to the the premier expressing the citysa国际传媒檚 concern about the adverse impacts of the tax on the city, and outlining the reasons why.
Related:Mayors of Kelowna and West Kelowna react to speculation tax
The city is also pursuing a freedom of information bid to find out what criteria was used to include West Kelowna in the list of municipalities where the speculation tax will be implemented.
On May 25, the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce presented itsa国际传媒檚 Anti-Canadian Tariff sa国际传媒� Pressing the Pause Button on BCsa国际传媒檚 Proposed Speculation Tax policy proposal,sa国际传媒� at the 2018 B.C. Chamber of Commercesa国际传媒檚 policy conference in Kamloops. It was met with unanimous support.
Adopting the new policy will be a priority of the B.C. chamber during discussions with Finance Minister Carole James.
sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檙e more than pleased at the response of our chamber colleagues in supporting this policysa国际传媒攖aking a strong message to the provincial government to study, clarify, and consult prior to legislating,sa国际传媒� Carmen Sparg, president of the Kelowna chamber said.
Related:Central Okanagan builds united front against speculation tax
The Kelowna chamber is calling for the cancellation of what it considers the sa国际传媒渕is-namedsa国际传媒� speculation tax.
It also wants the government to establish sa国际传媒渃lear parameters and key performance indicators that determine whether the tax, as put in place, is temporary.sa国际传媒�
sa国际传媒淒oes it actually create affordable housing and will it be removed if local indicators (not yet determined) improve.sa国际传媒�
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