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Barry Dorval

Independent for Vernon Council

My goal is a Vernon where people can find a home, contribute to neighbourhood connections and face the future with confidence through wise growth, reliable services, sound finances and care for natural systems.

Business Permitting

Ask for public reporting on processing times for business-related permits and the main causes of delay, then use the results to press for practical fixes.

Economic Growth

Use the OCP and zoning bylaw to keep suitable land available for businesses, and support infrastructure plans that allow them to locate and expand there.

Support regional planning with neighbouring communities and OKIB to identify shared needs for business land and infrastructure and pursue outside funding.

Follow through on the City’s existing commitment to work with the Downtown Vernon Association on downtown events, safety and development, and ask for public progress reports.

Take part in Vernon’s Business Walks and hold twice yearly open listening sessions in different business areas, then report on the themes identified and the steps I took.

Prepare Vernon for economic, social and environmental challenges and opportunities through sound finances & economic development, reliable services, strong community connections and planning for climate risks.

Climate Change, Heat, Fires, & the Environment

Energy-Efficient Buildings

Support continuing and expanding Retrofit Assist if its results show that it helps residents complete effective, affordable energy upgrades.

Support a Council-directed review of City permit rules and fees to remove barriers to energy upgrades that serve no clear public purpose.

Support the adoption of higher steps of the BC Energy Step code and the Zero Carbon step code.

Flooding

Support completing the Integrated Stormwater Management Plan and funding its highest-risk priorities through future capital budgets.

Support using the natural-asset inventory in land-use and budget decisions to protect wetlands, creek corridors and soils that reduce flooding.

Green Space

Create and use an Urban Forest Strategy to protect mature trees, grow Vernon’s tree canopy and add shade where people walk and gather.

Identify the services/benefits provided by Vernon’s wetlands, creeks, soils and trees and account for them in City plans and budgets.

Strengthen the protections for wetlands, creeks and wildlife corridors by updating City rules and requiring development to avoid damage wherever possible.

Ensure public input guides the redevelopment of Polson Park, look for further opportunities to expand input, and improve accessibility, shade, safety and connections to nearby neighbourhoods

Private Vehicles & Parking

Advocate for land-use decisions that prioritize development that gives residents real options to meet their daily needs without relying on personal vehicles.

Urban Heat

Support an Urban Forestry Strategy that sets tree-canopy targets and identifies neighbourhoods and public spaces where shade is most needed.

Support tree and landscaping rules that favour plants suited to hotter, drier summers without weakening FireSmart protection.

Support heat and smoke protection when City buildings and public spaces are designed or renewed, and ensure accessibility is treated as a basic requirement.

Walking & Cycling

Support Transportation Plan budgets that close gaps in sidewalks and bike routes, starting with safe links to schools, shops, work and recreation and follow the priorities of the Transportation Plan.

Ask for regular public reporting on whether walking and cycling are increasing and planned gaps in the network are being closed.

Zoning

Direct major housing growth toward compact, connected areas where roads, water, transit and other services already exist or can be provided responsibly.

Allow a wider range of housing types in established neighbourhoods where existing services can support them.

Use Vernon’s Official Community Plan, Climate Action Plan, Housing Needs Report and Transportation Plan as the starting point for zoning and development decisions.

Require that sufficient water, fire protection and other infrastructure can be provided before approving major developments.

Preparing for Climate Impacts

Support asset-management and capital decisions that use future, science-based climate projections rather than relying on past conditions.

Advocate for the Water Capacity Study to lead to an updated Greater Vernon Master Water Plan based on future climate conditions.

Support continued funding for FireSmart and fuel-reduction work while protecting trees, habitat and watersheds from avoidable damage.

Cutting Emissions

Support City budgets and work plans that advance Vernon’s adopted targets: 50% below 2017 by 2030, 75% by 2040 and net zero by 2050.

Use existing climate reports to ask whether City actions are reducing emissions, identify gaps, and press for changes when results fall short.

Water Security and Stewardship

Follow through on Vernon’s OCP commitment to support the Regional District’s Water Capacity Study, then press for an updated Master Water Plan that accounts for climate change and repeated dry years.

Ask Council to call on the Regional District to review the 2026 water restrictions publicly with residents, farmers and businesses before summer watering begins in 2027.

Ask Council to call for a public review, led by the Regional District, of how water is used and how much is set aside for farms, taking the 2027 changes to farm water rates into account.

Ask the City to report each year on water lost from the pipes it operates, and ask the Regional District to report losses across the whole system.

Support the City’s part in existing regional work to use treated wastewater for farm irrigation and press the Province for approvals.

Press the Regional District to help farms save water through checks of irrigation systems, leak detection and financial help for upgrades shown to save water.

Culture & Events

Festivals & Events

Review the new Community Event Partnership Grant after its first full year and support continuing it if it helps free public events draw participants, volunteers and outside funding.

Ask Council to direct staff to prepare one plain-language guide to event permits, grants, fee relief, public spaces and contacts so organizers know where to start.

Public Art

Push for follow through on the City’s existing commitment to complete a Public Art Policy covering how art is selected, funded, located and maintained.

Ask that local artists, arts groups, youth, OKIB and the broader Syilx community help shape the Public Art Policy before Council approves it.

Support using the anticipated Public Art Policy to add public art to parks, neighbourhood centres and gathering places outside downtown, with residents helping identify suitable locations.

Cultural Planning & Facilities

Ask Council to call for an update to the 2016 Greater Vernon Cultural Plan, shaped by artists, arts groups, SD22, youth, business, OKIB and the broader Syilx community.

Ask the RDNO to report publicly on Cultural Centre construction costs, borrowing, expected operating costs and effects on regional taxes.

Ask the RDNO for a public opening and operating plan showing how the Cultural Centre’s shared spaces will be booked, programmed and kept affordable.

Ask Council to act on its existing commitment by directing staff to develop a downtown Cultural District plan linking the Cultural Centre, nearby arts venues, public spaces and businesses.

Ask Council to direct staff to work with the RDNO on a shared work plan connecting arts and culture with downtown revitalization and economic development, with clear city/RDNO roles and public progress reports.

Housing & Homelessness

Affordability

Expand housing choices by supporting purpose-built rentals, attainable home ownership and homes that allow people to age in place.

Use suitable City-owned land through transparent requests for proposals that set clear affordability, housing-mix and public-benefit goals.

Track completed and occupied homes against the needs identified in Vernon’s Housing Needs Report.

Use municipal tools/mechanisms to expand housing choices by supporting more purpose-built affordable rentals, attainable home ownership, accessible homes and options that let people age in place.

Homelessness

Coordinate police, bylaw, outreach, health and housing providers so people in crisis can be connected with appropriate services while serious unsafe behaviour is addressed promptly.

Support regular public reporting on housing placements, transfers, evictions and returns to homelessness rather than relying only on approval or enforcement numbers.

Press BC Housing, Interior Health and the Province to provide the treatment, health services, supportive housing and complex-care housing that fall within their responsibilities

Housing Accessibility

Advocate for clear targets for adaptable and accessible homes in larger developments so people can remain in their homes and communities as their needs change as they age and their health status changes.

Indigenous-Led Housing

Support Indigenous-led housing proposals through zoning decisions and the City incentives already committed to in Vernon’s OCP.

Property Taxes

Require new development to pay its fair share of the roads, pipes, reservoirs and other infrastructure it needs.

Consider the full lifecycle cost of servicing major developments before approving them so existing taxpayers aren’t left with long-term bills.

Resist shifting the cost of provincially funded health, treatment and supportive-housing services onto municipal property taxpayers.

Review City spending regularly to identify possible efficiencies and savings that don't impact the quality, reliability or accessibility of services.

Base tax decisions on the cost of providing effective services and meeting long-term needs rather than prioritizing short-term relief that defers maintenance or shifts larger costs into future years.

Public & Assistive Housing

Support supportive housing that clearly identifies whom it will serve, provides adequate staffing and health supports, manages guests and serious incidents, and includes paths to higher levels of functioning.

Make any City contribution of City land, infrastructure or other assistance conditional on clear, long-term commitments from BC Housing, Interior Health and the housing operator.

Assess the cumulative effects of concentrating supportive housing and related services in one area before approving additional projects there.

Rent & Rental Stock

Follow through on the OCP commitment to make housing approvals faster and easier to understand, ensure well-planned rental projects are included, and report publicly on whether approval times improve.

Set targets for three-bedroom homes in larger developments to provide more suitable rental choices for families.

Explore the development of a tenant-protection policy addressing early notice, relocation assistance and opportunities to return when redevelopment displaces renters.

Zoning

Direct major housing growth toward compact, connected areas where roads, water, transit and other services already exist or can be provided responsibly.

Allow a wider range of housing types in established neighbourhoods where existing services can support them.

Use Vernon’s Official Community Plan, Climate Action Plan, Housing Needs Report and Transportation Plan as the starting point for zoning and development decisions.

Require that sufficient water, fire protection and other infrastructure can be provided before approving major developments.

Human Rights

Physical Accessibility

Ensure mobility needs are included as a basic requirement when planning for the expansion of shade along sidewalks and pathways.

Recent Immigrants

Support renewing the City's commitment to the Rural Communities Immigrant Pilot after 2027 if retention rates for participants continues to show strong evidence of worker retention and meeting employment needs.

Explore how the City can coordinate with Vernon Immigrant services to support their work in settling new immigrants into the community and helping them integrate into the community.

Local Government, Planning, & Democracy

Budgeting

Support a Council-directed review of City spending to determine if there are potential savings that do not significantly reducing quality, reliability or access of services.

Support budgets based on reliable services and long-term needs, not short-term tax relief that puts off maintenance or creates larger future costs.

Ask for the full cost to build, operate, maintain and replace major projects before voting, including borrowing and future tax effects.

Good Governance

Explain publicly how evidence, costs, risks and community input shaped each major vote.

Use adopted City plans as the starting point for decisions and explain clearly if I support a different course and why.

Support an independent review when a major proposal relies on disputed financial, environmental or technical claims.

Long-Term Plan

Support directing major housing growth toward compact, connected areas where roads, water, transit and other services already exist or can be provided responsibly.

Support keeping new growth within Vernon’s Urban Containment Boundary unless there is a clear and compelling public benefit to the exception and a transparent and accountable review of the exception.

Support bringing zoning rules into line with the Official Community Plan, so planned growth that follows the OCP is easier, major exceptions are harder, and predictable rules can be understood clearly.

Support clear application requirements and timely decisions for proposals that follow the City’s priorities, plans, and rules.

Support growing wisely by directing development to compact, connected areas, following Vernon’s adopted plans and ensuring new development pays its fair share of infrastructure costs.

Public Engagement

Support consistent City-wide standards for public engagement so residents know when and how their input can affect a decision.

Support public engagement early enough to shape a decision, before Council or staff have settled on a preferred option.

Ask City reports to explain what residents said, whose voices were missing and how public input affected the recommendation.

Support outreach through trusted groups to renters, newcomers, young adults, people with disabilities, Indigenous residents, and others often missed by general surveys.

Youth Engagement

Support reviewing the Youthful Vernon Strategy with young people and setting a short list of funded actions for the next Council term.

Support flexible, project-based ways for youth, including adults under 30, to advise Council without long committee commitments or daytime meetings.

Advocate for City partnerships with schools, Okanagan College, the Okanagan Indian Band and youth groups to seek youth input before decisions are mostly settled.

Support building on informal, action-forward projects (like Climate Action Ripple Effect and Youth Climate Corps) that let young people help develop new ideas to impact the community.

Mental Health, Drugs, & Addiction

Mental Health Crisis Response

Ask Interior Health and the RCMP to report regularly on the Mobile Integrated Crisis Response team’s workload, outcomes and missing services.

Support training for City staff who respond to people in crisis so they can calm situations safely and recognize trauma, brain injury and mental illness.

Ask the Vernon Situation Table to report recurring needs, missing services and successful referrals without identifying individuals.

Overdoses & the Contaminated Drug Supply

Advocate to Interior Health for continued easy access to naloxone, drug checking and overdose-prevention services in Vernon.

Ask for regular public reporting on local overdoses, emergency responses and missing services while protecting personal privacy.

Support clear City procedures for responding to overdoses, discarded needles and open drug use in public spaces.

Treatment for Addiction

Ask Interior Health to report at least yearly on treatment demand, wait times and service gaps across the community, including among people whose substance use is less visible.

Using the data gathered, advocate for confidential outpatient, evening and virtual care that people can access before substance use costs them work, housing or family connections.

Using the data gathered, advocate for care matched to individual needs, including counselling, withdrawal care, residential treatment and continuing support.

Press Interior Health and BC Housing to expand complex-care housing with round-the-clock health and behavioural support when local data show an unmet need.

Public Safety & Policing

Non-Police-Based Public Safety

Support a one-year downtown safety pilot with one public contact, coordinated bylaw, outreach and cleanup, practical business support and clear public measures of success.

Police Funding

Judge RCMP funding requests according to existing quarterly reports plus response times by call priority, actual staffing gaps, expected results and calls better handled by other services.

Upstream Causes of Crime

Use local data to press senior governments for treatment, complex care and other supports that reduce repeated offending and other crises.

Support small City partnerships with neighbourhood and youth groups that create safe activities, stronger connections and more welcoming public spaces.

Enforcement Priorities

Raise prompt attention to violence, threats, weapons, trafficking, theft and repeat offending as priorities in Council’s discussions with the RCMP.

Support public-space rules based on dangerous and illegal behaviour rather than housing status, alongside connections to appropriate help.

Public Spaces & Services

Fitness & Sports Facilities

Fund regular maintenance of recreation facilities rather than defer work and leave larger repair bills for future taxpayers.

Green Space

Create and use an Urban Forest Strategy to protect mature trees, grow Vernon’s tree canopy and add shade where people walk and gather.

Identify the services/benefits provided by Vernon’s wetlands, creeks, soils and trees and account for them in City plans and budgets.

Strengthen the protections for wetlands, creeks and wildlife corridors by updating City rules and requiring development to avoid damage wherever possible.

Ensure public input guides the redevelopment of Polson Park, look for further opportunities to expand input, and improve accessibility, shade, safety and connections to nearby neighbourhoods

Health Infrastructure

Gather strong data and use it to press the Province and Interior Health to provide enough detox, treatment, recovery and complex-care services to meet Vernon’s needs.

Sidewalks & Bike Paths

Support filling the gaps in Vernon’s sidewalk and bike-route networks, starting with safe links between homes, schools, shops, workplaces and recreation as laid out in the Transportation Plan.

Add shade along sidewalks and walking and cycling routes when streets are rebuilt or upgraded.

Require new developments to connect safely to nearby sidewalks, bike routes and transit stops.

Strengthen and enhance safe walking and cycling links among the Cultural Centre, downtown businesses, parks and other cultural sites.

Zoning

Direct major housing growth toward compact, connected areas where roads, water, transit and other services already exist or can be provided responsibly.

Allow a wider range of housing types in established neighbourhoods where existing services can support them.

Use Vernon’s Official Community Plan, Climate Action Plan, Housing Needs Report and Transportation Plan as the starting point for zoning and development decisions.

Require that sufficient water, fire protection and other infrastructure can be provided before approving major developments.

Community Connections

Support new and renewed neighbourhood parks and public spaces to be designed as accessible, welcoming places where people of different ages and abilities can gather year-round.

Make a Council motion directing staff to assess the need, costs and benefits of partnering with the Community Foundation on small grants that bring neighbours together across Vernon.

Make a Council motion directing staff to provide neighbourhood groups that are planning activities, which bring residents together, one clear City contact and a guide to permits, spaces and grants.

Reconciliation & Indigenous Nations

Indigenous-Led Housing

Support Indigenous-led housing proposals through zoning decisions and the City incentives already committed to in Vernon’s OCP.

Land Title & Governance

Support the ongoing conversations of the OKIB–Vernon Working Group, as called for in the City’s current Action Plan and seek public updates on agreed priorities and progress made.

Confirm the OCP commitment to refer them to OKIB was followed and ask what concerns remain when reviewing land-use applications beside reserve lands

Place Names & Commemorations

Support carrying out Vernon’s OCP commitment to incorporate nsyilxcən place names into City parks and infrastructure in collaboration with OKIB.

Residential Schools

Follow through on the OCP’s call for learning by participating in Indigenous-led education about residential schools and relevant TRC Calls to Action.

Transit & Getting Around

Private Vehicles & Parking

Advocate for land-use decisions that prioritize development that gives residents real options to meet their daily needs without relying on personal vehicles.

Sidewalks & Bike Paths

Support filling the gaps in Vernon’s sidewalk and bike-route networks, starting with safe links between homes, schools, shops, workplaces and recreation as laid out in the Transportation Plan.

Add shade along sidewalks and walking and cycling routes when streets are rebuilt or upgraded.

Require new developments to connect safely to nearby sidewalks, bike routes and transit stops.

Strengthen and enhance safe walking and cycling links among the Cultural Centre, downtown businesses, parks and other cultural sites.

Walking & Cycling

Support Transportation Plan budgets that close gaps in sidewalks and bike routes, starting with safe links to schools, shops, work and recreation and follow the priorities of the Transportation Plan.

Ask for regular public reporting on whether walking and cycling are increasing and planned gaps in the network are being closed.

Biography

submitted by the candidate or their team

I’ve lived in Vernon since 1999. I’m a retired teacher and former teachers’ association president. I’ve worked on affordable housing and youth climate action, chaired the City’s Climate Action Advisory Committee, and helped people of all backgrounds feel welcome and participate.

Hello! I appreciate the opportunity to share a bit about myself. I’ve lived in Vernon since 1999, where my wife, Ann, and I raised our two children. I’m a retired teacher and former president of the Vernon Teachers’ Association.

I’ve been active in community life in a variety of ways, including chairing the City’s Climate Action Advisory Committee, working on affordable housing development, supporting youth climate action, serving in leadership roles at my church, and helping people of all backgrounds feel welcome to take part in community life.

I’ve also taken an active, informed part in public planning processes, including the development of Vernon’s Official Community Plan, Climate Action Plan and Transportation Plan, as well as plans for the redevelopment of Polson Park.

Promises

See all 122 promises

Zoning

Direct major housing growth toward compact, connected areas where roads, water, transit and other services already exist or can be provided responsibly.

Upstream Causes of Crime

Use local data to press senior governments for treatment, complex care and other supports that reduce repeated offending and other crises.

Preparing for Climate Impacts, Community Connections, Economic Growth

Reason for running

submitted by the candidate or their team

I believe local government helps create the conditions for community life to thrive. My family and I have benefited from the work of those who came before us. I’m running to give back—to serve people here today and help build a strong, caring community for those who will follow.

Political engagement has been part of my life since childhood. I grew up in a politically active family, helped with campaigns as a teenager and have remained engaged ever since. Over time, though, I’ve become discouraged when politics seems more focused on winning and holding power than on acting with integrity and having the courage to take bold action that improves people’s lives. Still, I remain convinced that local government, at its best, offers public service that is direct, practical and closely connected to the people affected by its decisions. That’s especially true in a city like Vernon, where local leaders shop in the same stores and attend the same neighbourhood events as the people they serve.

That closeness is one reason I’m excited to run. I have seen that local government has an important role in creating the conditions in which community life can thrive. City Hall doesn’t build community on its own—people do that. But through reliable public services, welcoming shared spaces, thoughtful planning, and support for the people and organizations that bring us together, it can help strengthen the social fabric we all depend on.

For me, this is also quite personal. My family and I have benefited from living in a community shaped by the work and care of those who came before us. Now it’s my turn to step up. I have the time, experience and opportunity to serve the people who are here today and to help leave a strong, caring community for those who come after us.

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