Council OKs stabling area for ‘gang’

Garnet Valley Gang stages train robberies in association with Kettle Valley Railway

The Garnet Valley Gang has been awarded the licence to occupy a stabling area at the Summerland Rodeo Grounds. The Gang plans to use the stabling area for their horses on the days they are operating the train robberies in association with the Kettle Valley Railway, a popular tourist attraction.

“It’s not every day we come to any sort of arrangement with a bunch of outlaws,” Mayor Peter Waterman said Monday when council unanimously approved the Gang’s proposal to use the property.

Members of the public will be able to have their photographs taken with the Gang and to purchase posters, calendars and other memorabilia.

Coun. Doug Holmes drew attention to what he considered the most unusual sentence he had ever read in a staff report.

“Buildings would be used for counting their money after the train robberies and be out of the rain and sun,” recreation manager Brenda Ingram wrote to council.

The Gang plans to do extensive renovation to the buildings and improve fencing in the stable area at their own expense and will pay the district $200 per month.

“I see a huge opportunity there,” said Coun. Erin Carlson, referring to the potential expansion of the KVR and related tourism, including agri-tourism, in the area.

The area had previously been leased for over 10 years to a trail-riding business which, as a use available to the general public, fell under permitted uses of the Parks and Recreation zoning of the rodeo grounds.

Private stabling of horses for a particular group doesn’t meet the definition quite so literally, Ingram wrote.

“It’s OK as an accessory use. If, however, stabling the Gang’s horses were the primary use, the bylaw would need to be changed,” chief administrative officer Linda Tynan told council.