Mayor reserves comment on controversial ‘housekeeping’

Penticton’s mayor isn’t saying much in response to articles in The Herald this week that raised questions about the way city staff handled two high-profile developments.

The Herald reported Monday that B.C.’s ombudsperson is investigating the process used last year to rezone 175 Kinney Ave. to make way for a 119-unit apartment complex.

Then, on Tuesday, The Herald revealed two matters put to council in 2014 as “housekeeping” items were in fact meant to clear up some of the regulatory hurdles that stood in the way of building a commercial waterslides development in Skaha Lake Park.

Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said in a statement Tuesday he would “reserve comment” on the 175 Kinney Ave. rezoning until the ombudsperson’s investigation is complete.

As for the Skaha Lake Park affair, Jakubeit said city manager Peter Weeber, who “is responsible for dealing with staff and what comes before council,” is working through the matter.

“Any recommendations on our process past, present, and into our future will be considered,” the mayor added.

Jakubeit was a city councillor in May 2014, when development services manager Anthony Haddad appeared before elected officials at a regular meeting and recommended they support two separate bylaws: one to amend the maximum allowable height of play structures in P2 park zones and the other to formally close a portion of South Beach Drive in Skaha Lake Park.

While Haddad told council at the time that both items were intended simply as “housekeeping” measures, Weeber confirmed Monday they were in fact meant to support Trio Marine Group’s proposed waterslides development, which wasn’t revealed publicly until a year later.

Suspicions about the true intentions of Haddad’s housekeeping matters were first raised by members of the Save Skaha Park Society, who were disappointed — but not surprised — to learn they were right all along.

“To withhold that information when they put the two changes out for the bylaws, that was less than what you want to see from your city council,” spokeswoman Lisa Martin said Tuesday. “At best, it was not transparency, that’s for sure.”

Haddad didn’t respond to a request for comment Tuesday.