Davis Kyle

Yes.

As ​co-founder of Strong Towns Kelowna, a local housing & planning advocacy organization, we have pushed city hall on improving urban and suburban walkability, traditional and low-carbon mixed-use development patterns, and shifts away from fully car-centric infrastructure with investments in transit, bike lanes, and sidewalks.

As a founding member of the Okanagan Transit Alliance, while never on the board, I have supported local transit ownership, signal priority on all frequent routes, queue-jumping, investment in shelters and benches, along with both the new transit yard and bus rapid transit corridors.

As a past President of the Kelowna Area Cycling Coalition, I was instrumental in founding the downtown bike valet, supported efforts to bring it to the farmers' market, and volunteered for events like GoByBike Week.

I have also attended events held by the Kelowna Climate Coalition and Kelowna Tree Protectors, and have worked to advocate on issues important to these organizations with community leaders and other levels of government. I have also engaged in advocacy on removing tariffs or regulatory barriers on electric vehicles, solar panels, balcony solar, and other core infrastructure needed for wide-scale electrification and abundance environmentalism.

In terms of my own carbon footprint, I use my bike for as many trips as possible. My home heating and cooling is entirely electric, and I have done what I can to shop local at Lakeview Market, the farmer's market, and various fruit and farm goods shops around Kelowna.

I think it is realistic to move to all-electric heating and cooling, especially in the Kelowna context. In British Columbia, we have significant carbon-free energy in the base grid, and we should be working to expand capacity so that no power is imported from the United States. Electric cars are going to significantly increase demand, we need to be permitting enough power to lower prices and make electricity far cheaper than gas.

Central air or heat pumps in new developments is where I would look to as aspects of our zoning code, as a "right to cool" in new developments.

Protect, prioritize, and plant trees where everyone can enjoy them.

As Kelowna grows, we need to prioritize planting shade trees along streets, sidewalks, and boulevards.

I support directing staff to enact policies to improve the city's urban tree canopy to 30% by 2035, from the current 23%. This will decrease the urban heat island effect. This includes the protection of mature native trees, and improved street tree design standards.

I will focus on linear park creation along riverfronts to reduce overland flood risk while creating new recreational amenities. The San Antonio riverwalk is a good guiding light of how to integrate water features into walkable commercial / retail while self-funding land acquisition through zoning policy. These are great opportunities for tree plantings.

Improved "Parks on Streets" Greenway and Superblock programs are also a path forward. While Abbott street is not a walkable community in terms of mixed-usage or affordability, in terms of the built form, it is the gold standard for tree canopy, traffic calming, pedestrian safety, and quality of life. We should be working on bringing that level of tree canopy and street infrastructure to other parts of Kelowna, while working to bring down the cost of living and housing.

- Fill in the gaps in our sidewalk and bike networks. Relying on developers to build sidewalks and bike lanes in front of new developments hasn’t built a connected network that makes walking and cycling safe for everyone. Kelowna should engage the public in the first 50 days to determine gaps in its sidewalk and bike networks near the most important destinations (such as schools) and fill in these locations first. I would like to see a large expansion in the AAA multiuse path, bike, or sidewalk network, including safe routes to schools. I have my own personal list, as someone who bikes and runs all over Kelowna, on where I hope to find a council majority.

Rapid Transit corridor planning between downtown Kelowna and the University and Airport, along with between the north end and south mission.
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Prioritize transit signal priority technology in the 10-year capital plan for full coverage on all "frequent" routes at all intersections by 2032. Built it out for the 8, 97,98,5, and 1 in time for the next election, if a council majority can be found.

Increased investment in street urbanisation and traffic calming approaches such as street trees, continuous sidewalks, signalized crossings, and other infrastructure in order to improve both accessibility and safety for all road users, including those with walkers and wheelchairs.

Improve "Meet Me On Bernard" urbanism with retractable bollards to replace concrete barriers and improved car-lite design standards that improve urban tree canopy and dining options.
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This is a RDCO matter, and I am not sure if I will be appointed to the RDCO. Happy to engage with KCC on this matter, as it's a knowledge gap for myself. Seems reasonable, would need to understand the associated cost.

Full implementation of the sustainable urban forest strategy to target 30% tree canopy in residential and commercial areas, in order to mitigate future urban heat island effects. This means building it into the way we do the OCP, and the way we run our zoning bylaw. This means looking at it from a street urbanization point of view, a superblocking and Parks / Parks on Streets point of view, and on a neighbourhood by neighbourhood basis, beginning with weaker tree canopy areas like the Gateway and Rutland.

I want to see the funding secured for the new Kelowna bus yard, BRT corridor studies for north-south and east-west routes, and, as mentioned above, capital allocation for signal priority on core routes. Part of this will be adjusting our zoning bylaw to reduce housing costs, remove unfunded mandates, legalized walkable urban village and mixed-use development patterns, as well as transit oriented density in concentric areas that are along the rapid bus lines.