Despite information and logic the city of Kelowna says their hands are tied and it’s the BC Government’s fault that the bus stop in front of Kelowna General Hospital (KGH) is designated as a transit hub. With such a designation, comes a high density area (a TOA) which will allow six storey apartment buildings in the southern part of this little historical area which is, in total, less than 1/2 km2…a gem where it is estimated that over 20,000 residents and tourists come each year. The houses have their own heritage signs, there is a heritage walking brochure, there are streets without sidewalks, and numerous access points to Okanaganan Lake. The trees are large and cyclyists, walkers, runners, etc., come here for a reprieve from the concrete and traffic.

The BC provincial government said that floodplains are exempt from these high density TOA areas and the AHCA is located not on just one floodplain, but two, and yet the city is choosing to ignore this. Why?

Who identified the bus stop in front of KGH as a transit hub in the first place?

There are 7 bus stops along this route and KGH is just one of them and none of the other bus stops along the route are considered “transit exchanges”. The infrastructure is a bench and several stops have benches such as a stop at the Pandosy Village Centre, which is an area of numerous shops, restaurants, coffee shops, doctors offices, art galleries, medical labs, an elementary school, fast food restaurants, etc., and so if there is going to be any bus stop considered a transit “exchange”, this would be the place for it.

The province’s goal is to increase density around transit hubs such as around sky train stations, shopping centres, etc., where multiple bus routes terminate, as  people wouldn’t need to get around by car. KGH is not a transit hub and no one stops there to catch a bus to an alternate route.  No buses terminate at KGH. This is not what the provincial government had in mind for TOAs. The key is that this incorrect designation of KGH as a transit hub will result in apartment buildings in the Abbott Heritage Conservation Area. Why destroy this unnecessarily?

The province, in early December 2023, included two transit exchanges (hubs) in Kelowna: 

* Okanagan College Exchange (4 terminus lines)

* Rutland Exchange (4 terminus lines)

After the first transit exchanges were listed in early December 2023, the province issued an expanded list of 81 transit exchanges outside of the Lower Mainland which included the KGH bus stop and Orchard Park (a transit hub with 10 terminus lines). The province did not include three of the six transit hubs in Kelowna.

Not included:

* UBCO (8 terminus lines) 

* Queensway (11 terminus lines)

* Mission Rec (5 terminus lines)

How did these get missed and a bus stop (not even marked on the transit map) gets included? 

KGH is not identified as a transit exchange on the bus maps (below) nor is it a future growth area in the OCP:

There are 81 transit exchanges (hubs) in BC on the list and I personnaly checked each one and KGH is the only one that is a bus stop. The other 80 identified across the province are actual hubs with multiple bus route links so people go there to transfer to another bus. The province provides an example of a transit exchange in the TOA document. They use the Newton Exchange which is a transit hub with 12 bus terminus links!

During the meetings on TOAs, Kelowna councillors stated that KGH isn’t a transit hub but a bus stop. Kelowna’s Mayor stated during the discussion on this, that the hospital workers bring their cars to work and park all over the neighbourhoods because transit isn’t sufficient. A further case against designating the bus stop as a transit hub!

The KGH bus stop needs to be removed from the list of transit exchanges which will remove the TOA around KGH. The city said we should reach out to the province as only the province can remove this TOA. What about the floodplain exemption? Removal of the TOA will protect the Heritage Conservation Area from high density but will not affect the density outside of the heritage conservation area as the City of Kelowna allows high density throughout the city anyway. Who will do this? The city of Kelowna? The provincial government? Both can!