The Okanagan Falls Incorporation Study is moving into its community information phase in the coming months.
The incorporation study, which began in the summer of 2023, examined how the community would be affected by incorporating into a municipality. The effects include services, taxation and governance.
Technical analysis, underway since the fall of 2023, concluded in May 2024. Information will now be presented to residents of the unincorporated community.
“The Incorporation Study Committee is made up of residents who live within the study area, and we are deeply invested in this process and this community,” said Rick Wilson, chair of the Okanagan Falls Incorporation Study Committee.
“For months now, the committee has been learning the details about incorporation, and we are excited to share the findings with the community.”
Okanagan Falls, south of Penticton, is the largest unincorporated community within the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen.
Information mailouts were sent out in the first week of July and will be sent again in October.
An information booth will be set up at Music in the Park in Centennial Park on Aug. 11 and Aug. 25.
Open house events will be held at the Okanagan Falls Recreation Centre gym, 1109 Willow St. on Saturday, Aug. 17 from 2 to 4:30 p.m. and on Wednesday, Sept. 11 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
A discussion panel is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 8 to hear from other jurisdictions that have recently considered incorporation. The event will be in-person at the Okanagan Falls Recreation Centre gym or can be viewed online. The online meeting link will be posted on the project page at rdosregonalconnections.ca one week before the event.
Printed copies of the materials are available at the Okanagan Falls branch of the Okanagan Regional Library, 101-850 Railway Ln. and at the regional district’s Community Services Office, 1109 Willow St. The materials can also be viewed online at rdosregionalconnections.ca.
Events will be advertised in Skaha Matters and will be posted on the project web page.
Regional district representatives say much of the discussion has to do with cost implications of incorporation. A tax impact estimator tool on the study web page allows users to estimate the potential cost impact.
Before the end of 2024, the study committee will make a recommendation to the regional district board on whether it supports a referendum on incorporation.
The regional district board will then make its own recommendation to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.
If the referendum is approved by the province, the vote will be held for electors in the study area. The earliest date for a referendum would be the spring of 2025.
If the referendum is not recommended or if it is not approved, Okanagan Falls will remain part of Electoral Area D within the regional district.
In the 2021 census, Okanagan Falls had a population of 2,266. This is larger than Keremeos, an incorporated community with a population of 1,608 in the 2021 census and only slightly smaller than Princeton, with a 2021 population of 2,894.
Since at least 1989, studies have been conducted about incorporating Okanagan Falls. In late 2018, Electoral Area I was severed from Electoral Area D as a step in the preparation for the potential incorporation of Okanagan Falls.
The incorporation study and community engagement process contract was awarded in 2023. Neilson Strategies, Horsman Strategies, Leftside Partners and Inspire Creative were awarded the contract for up to $120,000 including GST.