178 | BusinessWorld | August-September 2014
municipalities in British Columbia,” said
Roycrof t , the d i s tr i c t 's e conomi c
development manager. “We had one year
where we exceeded 8 percent growth and
several others where we were north of 4
percent.”
Indeed, the district's population in the
census taken just a year after incorporation
was 9,007, and it showed little marked
change in either the 2001 or 2006 federal
counts – rising 2.9 percent to 9.267 for the
former and climbing 3.7 percent to 9,606
for the latter.
The big spike occurred from 2006 to 2011,
when a 21.9percent boost raised the total to
11,708.
Thanks to a lot of new development in the
area, Buchholz saidmuch of the population
growth has been skewing younger in age –
which makes Lake Country one of the few
places in either the Okanagan Valley region
or the BritishColumbia province as awhole
whosemedian age is going down.
And the changing expectations of that
changing population creates a need for
infrastructure to keep up, which creates
additional responsibility for Buchholz, the
district's operationsmanager.
“Prior to incorporation, there was sort of
nominal population change in the area, and
one of the things the new council began to
grapple with was creating an environment
where population and economic growth
could occur,” he said. “The whole province
saw significant increases, and with the
district being a very desirable area – with
our sunny Okanagan climate – we were
targeted as a place todevelop.”
Buchholz said the development has
consisted primarily on the residential side,
largely fueled by people who work in the
nearby cities of Kelowna (about 30minutes
south) or Vernon (roughly 30 minutes
north)and are seeking a “four-season
playground” to bolster their quality of non-
work life.
