-Procurement and Contracting Specialist. History of delivering value for money in for projects in the public and private sector
-Former Kelowna Area Cycling Coalition President
-Former Vice Chair, RDCO Planning Advisory Committee
-Co-founder, Strong Towns Kelowna
Davis Kyle
Independent for Kelowna Council
Housing & Homelessness
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Affordability
Targeting a 5% or greater vacancy rate for both ownership and rental housing, while ensuring opportunity for new homes across the housing spectrum, from single family, to townhome, to apartments.
Cut costs for families and keep Kelowna workers employed by committing to a DCC reduction plan through bonded infrastructure financing.
Direct support land-trust partnerships for secured affordable rental and co-op housing developments.
Full implementation of the sustainable urban forest strategy to target 30% tree canopy in residential areas, in order to mitigate future urban heat island effects.
Lobbying the Provincial government for property tax reform to cut taxes and boost our local economy.
Homelessness
Direct support land-trust partnerships for secured affordable rental and co-op housing developments.
Housing Accessibility
Accessibility targeting towards ground-access units in apartment buildings.
Zoning
A neighborhood village OCP model to re-legalize various daytime home-based businesses, corner stores, and independent cafes in more areas.
Land use that protects the ALR while putting downward pressure on our property taxes.
Local Government & Democracy
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Budgeting
Establishing inflation-adjusted P1, P2, P3 budgeting for City departments, which would hold current service levels at P1, and require justifications for increased spending.
Establish an office for Economics, Internal Audit, and Data Visualization, allowing the City to work on zoning, regulation, budget, and tax reforms.
Improve contract transparency by publishing all major contracts and procurement decisions online in an easily searchable format.
Demonstrate lifecycle costing, which would mean that major capital projects would publish net lifecycle cost estimates which include revenue, maintenance and operation, as part of the approval process.
Good Governance
Electronic vote tabulating for council meetings with automated publication on the City of Kelowna website: council votes by councillor can be searched and filtered by the public.
Emulating BC's political contribution tax credit system on a local level.
Lobbying the BC Government to allow ranked ballots, eliminating the concern of vote-splitting while ensuring the mayor always has the support of more than 50% of voters.
Open By Default or "raw data first" transparency standard for public meeting minutes, budgets, and planning tools.
Public Engagement
Reducing reliance on closed-door working groups.
Directing staff to ensure that all future City of Kelowna data collection, OCP surveys, and community feedback is statistically significant, with no sampling biases.
Transit & Getting Around
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Private Vehicles & Parking
Expand "Green Wave" traffic signal synchronization and timing citywide by redirecting capital investment into smart traffic sensor and adaptive signal technology.
Highway 97: Advocate for Provincial infrastructure upgrades to reduce congestion & car crashes by shifting curb cuts to side streets, closing off access points, and removing non-signal lefts.
Refocus capital investment into complete streets and efficient intersections depending on the local context. Roundabouts, sidewalks and street trees should be priorities.
Create a single, real-time public map of all road construction so that the public can spot issues and projects can be better coordinated to minimize detours and combine work when possible.
Publish a ten-year road repair and resurfacing schedule for transparency.
Sidewalks & Bike Paths
Support increased rollout of Complete Street and protected ATC models in order to advance multi-model traffic safety. Establish a "safe routes to school" program for all schools to be covered by 2034.
Increased investment in street urbanisation and traffic calming approaches.
Transit Projects
Investment in the new public transit yard, with completed pushed up to 2032 or as soon as practical.
Advocacy for a Central Okanagan Transit Authority (Translink) as opposed to 3rd-party contracting as a management model.
Prioritize transit signal priority technology in the 10-year capital plan for full coverage on all "frequent" routes at all intersections by 2032.
Create a funding strategy for bus shelters at all stops on all routes within the permanent growth boundary, to be completed by 2032.
Walking & Cycling
Continue funding for City of Kelowna bike valets
Increased investment in ATC and MUP infrastructure.
Climate Change, Heat, & Fires
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Energy-Efficient Buildings
Public advocacy on reducing Canadian solar tariffs, along with permitting reform to allow balcony solar.
Maintaining air conditioning requirements for new developments.
Flooding
Focus on linear park creation along riverfronts to reduce overland flood risk while creating new recreational amenities.
Consult with stakeholders on reforms to zoning bylaws to manage allowable impermeable lot coverage and ensure adequate rainfall management.
Direct City of Kelowna staff to investigate permeable paver, urban bioswale, and parklet programs to reduce overland water runoff.
Green Space
Protect ALR as a matter of city policy
Expand linear parks and off-street connections between neighbourhoods, schools, and services while championing an expanded creekside and lakeshore linear park strategy.
Expand Kelowna's tree canopy with a 3-30-300 approach to urban park and street tree strategies. Renew Kelowna's urban tree strategy by aligning the OCP and zoning bylaw to the tree canopy objectives.
Ban the sale of City parks and ensure no-net-loss of public canopy and natural areas.
Expand park activations with greater investments in active-use and, in the case of urban parks, recreational / food retail opportunities.
Retrofit older parks with amenities that support Parks Alive, sports, socializing, and more.
Private Vehicles & Parking
Expand "Green Wave" traffic signal synchronization and timing citywide by redirecting capital investment into smart traffic sensor and adaptive signal technology.
Highway 97: Advocate for Provincial infrastructure upgrades to reduce congestion & car crashes by shifting curb cuts to side streets, closing off access points, and removing non-signal lefts.
Refocus capital investment into complete streets and efficient intersections depending on the local context. Roundabouts, sidewalks and street trees should be priorities.
Create a single, real-time public map of all road construction so that the public can spot issues and projects can be better coordinated to minimize detours and combine work when possible.
Publish a ten-year road repair and resurfacing schedule for transparency.
Urban Heat
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.
Support flexible zoning frameworks to maximize tree protection and tree canopy.
Maintaining air conditioning requirements for new developments.
Improved street urbanization design standards to improve urban tree canopies along transportation routes.
Walking & Cycling
Continue funding for City of Kelowna bike valets
Increased investment in ATC and MUP infrastructure.
Zoning
A neighborhood village OCP model to re-legalize various daytime home-based businesses, corner stores, and independent cafes in more areas.
Land use that protects the ALR while putting downward pressure on our property taxes.
Mental Health, Drugs, & Addiction
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Treatment for Addiction
I will support involutory and voluntary treatment facilities and dry recovery housing to keep our community safe, healthy, and welcoming for all residents.
I will work with a council majority to prevent the continued dispersal of overnight sheltering outside of shelters and OS4.
Public Safety & Policing
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Non-Police-Based Public Safety
Dedicated 24/7 foot patrols downtown, in Rutland and the Capri areas, via a combination of Bylaw and Business Association teams, to reduce overnight disorder and better respond to public disorder.
Increase the Business Security Enhancement Rebate to cover the installation of roll-down shutters for businesses.
I will support the use of non-tax revenue streams, such as Parking Benefit Districts, to increase On-Call response teams and to scale up the program across all of Kelowna's town centers.
Public Spaces & Services
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Fitness & Sports Facilities
Hockey rinks and sports field additions to match our population growth. Waitlists and high costs need to come down, and every part of town should be treated fairly.
Support a neighborhood-based spots amenity survey to determine future demand for sports fields, including permanent cricket fields, a second disc golf course, a skatepark, etc.
Green Space
Protect ALR as a matter of city policy
Expand linear parks and off-street connections between neighbourhoods, schools, and services while championing an expanded creekside and lakeshore linear park strategy.
Expand Kelowna's tree canopy with a 3-30-300 approach to urban park and street tree strategies. Renew Kelowna's urban tree strategy by aligning the OCP and zoning bylaw to the tree canopy objectives.
Ban the sale of City parks and ensure no-net-loss of public canopy and natural areas.
Expand park activations with greater investments in active-use and, in the case of urban parks, recreational / food retail opportunities.
Retrofit older parks with amenities that support Parks Alive, sports, socializing, and more.
Sidewalks & Bike Paths
Support increased rollout of Complete Street and protected ATC models in order to advance multi-model traffic safety. Establish a "safe routes to school" program for all schools to be covered by 2034.
Increased investment in street urbanisation and traffic calming approaches.
Zoning
A neighborhood village OCP model to re-legalize various daytime home-based businesses, corner stores, and independent cafes in more areas.
Land use that protects the ALR while putting downward pressure on our property taxes.
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Top three issues
Biography
submitted by the candidate or their team
In my day job, I help make government run more efficiently to save taxpayers money. Being able to work with anyone bringing issues to the table, being able to come up with the right criteria to solve urgent problems, and being able to evaluate the proposals that attempt to solve those problems is the first responsibility of a city councillor. That's what I do for a living
Kelowna has been my home since moving with my family in 2003. I graduated from KSS, received a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Victoria, and moved back to Kelowna.
I've advocated for better city planning practices as Vice Chair of the Planning Advisory Committee for the RDCO. I cofounded the local Kelowna chapter of Strong Towns to advocate for better community planning, tax policy, and transportation spending. I've written a prizewinning paper on housing affordability in a national magazine. I partnered with the City of Kelowna to run the 2023 and 2025 Bike Valets on behalf of the Kelowna Area Cycling Coalition, working in partnership with the City of Kelowna to achieve a 58.06% drop in bike thefts compared to the same period in 2022.
Reason for running
submitted by the candidate or their team
I am running for council because we need strong leaders to work on strengthening our local economy, improving our community planning, and protecting Kelowna's quality of life.
Kelowna is at a turning point.
Can we continue to accept concerning infrastructure deficits in our neighborhoods or what feels like deteriorating public safety in our neighborhoods and urban centres?
Our cost of living continues to increase faster than our local wages. Too many people just can't keep up, get ahead, or save for retirement.
I’m running for council because we need stronger leadership at the council table to ensure that residents don't see reductions in their quality of life. A city of opportunity means a strong local economy, homes we can afford, jobs that pay enough to live on, and safe neighborhood streets for ourselves and our neighbours.
kyleforkelowna.ca www.kyleforkelowna.ca