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Thursday, May 15, 2014 Capital NewsC
NEWS
West Kelowna mayor: ‘This whole thing is really a mess’ Forgery from A1 (Kohut) had any further comments or concerns about the building going
on next to him, he would send back a reply either way,” Zeleznik wrote in a statement. “It was never my in-
tent to sway the staff or council with the letter and if I knew that the owner had any issue with the variance being put forth,
then that would have been left with the developer and (Kohut).” Zeleznik added neither he nor his company
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had any monetary gain in the outcome of the approval for a variance, other than the allowance to build the custom home he had been contracted to build for the owner of Lot 4. He said he is curious why the District of West Kelowna didn’t make a better effort to contact Kohut regarding the variance application. According to Zeleznik, they simply dropped a notice on Kohut’s doorstep, which he didn’t receive until he returned from overseas. After Mayor Doug Findlater learned of the issue May 6, he called for a reconsideration of the resolution passed April 8. “This whole thing is really a mess,” said Findlater. He said this was only the second time he has issued a reconsideration during his time as mayor. “I felt it was appropriate because we received information that some of the documentation we received was basically
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forged, concerning a letter of support, when in fact the resident involved is vociferously opposed,” said Findlater. “We rely on the public process…so to have something come in that’s forged, really throws our process into some disarray.” Coun. Rick de Jong said he was happy the mayor brought the issue back to council for reconsideration. “To get fraudulent information to base a decision on is somewhat unsettling, regardless of how it all transpired,” said de Jong. Nancy Henderson, general manager of development services, said staff’s recommendation to issue the variance in the first place had a lot to do with Kohut’s letter of support, considering he has a house on the property most affected by the change. Although Kohut was initially strongly against the variance, he changed his tone in a letter sent to
the district May 11. “The work completed to date is substantial and (to) tear this down would in fact be a hardship and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, not to mention lost jobs in the community and an eye sore for months to come while this happens,” wrote Kohut. “Although I am still not overjoyed at such a huge variance, I would say now to leave the variance in place and return to business allowing the construction of (the) home on Lot 4.” Despite Kohut’s change of heart, council unanimously voted to defer reconsideration, with the intention of putting it on the agenda of the May 27 meeting. Zeleznik said construction on Lot 4 has stopped since learning of council’s decision to defer reconsideration. wpaterson @kelownacapnews.com Twitter: @PatersonWade
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