Committee takes advice from Save Skaha Park Society
Trio of activist groups put aside differences and agree to work together on development of Parks and Recreation Master Plan
There is still a lot of work to do but I am encouraged by the unity the groups have shown today and their desire to move forward together.
Three groups that are heavily invested in creation of a new Parks and Recreation Master Plan for Penticton agreed Thursday to put aside their differences.
Members of the Save Skaha Park Society, Penticton Citizens First and the PRMP steering committee shook hands on a pact committing all three groups to working together on development of the plan.
The deal followed a presentation to the committee by members of the Save Skaha Park Society, who put forward four recommendations to deal with concerns arising from the latest draft of the plan, flaws of which were pointed out at an attimes raucous open house May 1.
The first recommendation calls for a ban on the city leasing park land without first obtaining public assent.
“Leasing is a form of disposition of park land. It provides tenure and title rights to the lessee. The public should make the final decision whenever a proposal to lease park land is being considered,” society member Gerry Karr told the committee on behalf of 5,200 members.
He then suggested the committee recommend council amend its Parks Dedication Bylaw to remove a clause that gives the city “blanket approval” to lease park land.
Karr said it’s “wrong to give such preapproval in a bylaw that then opens the door to situations such as occurred with Skaha Lake Park” and the ill-fated commercial waterslides development, which prompted creation of the society.
He also asked that the draft master plan be amended so the term “commercial uses” is changed to “permitted uses” to help “reframe the issue,” and that a section on public consultation be reworked to more accurately reflect public sentiment against commercial uses in parks.
Prior to making his recommendations, Karr noted the importance of finding common ground with the city and the committee for the betterment of the community.
The society has been “at loggerheads with the city over commercial development of our parks, and continuing down that road — two separate solitudes — is not going to solve the problem,” he said.
Committee chairman Ron Ramsay also struck a conciliatory tone.
“It is incumbent on us as a steering committee to present a final draft of this master plan with the blessing, hopefully, of all the interested groups in the city of Penticton,” he said.
“There have been many groups that have done a mountain of work and provided input at every opportunity, and, I think before we wrap this up, we need them on board, really.”
City manager Peter Weeber applauded the new spirit of co-operation.
“For many months, our community has been divided over parks when our parks should bring us together,” he said in a statement after the meeting.
“There is still a lot of work to do but I am encouraged by the unity the groups have shown today and their desire to move forward together.”
City manager Peter Weeber