Opportune time to act on encroachment

Dear editor: Re: Flood letters issued, Herald, A3, April 27 Your article about industrial encroachment on city land along streams did not entirely surprise me.

The city has known of the encroachment since at least 2006 when the “City of Penticton Principal Watercourses – a catalogue of watercourse characteristics including existing riparian areas” was released, and identified encroachment.

The oldest air photos from 1994 on the city’s old parcel map viewer shows encroachment on Ellis Creek for over 20 years.

The process for updating the Parks and Recreation Master Plan has recorded public input on this encroachment because the city land around the creek is actually zoned P2 Parks and Recreation. There has been considerable interest in commercial and industrial use of our park lands. The stream and surrounding area also has Development Permit Areas for environmental protection and riparian areas. Ellis Creek is identified as being a flood hazard area in the OCP.

The fact that the city is now formalizing encroachment into these environmentally sensitive hazard areas is not improving the management of these lands. The encroachment without removal and restoration "has gone on too long."

I would like to see these businesses act as community stewards and restore these riparian areas and return the park land to the public.

It was encouraging to see that the city has demonstrated some stewardship by planting natural vegetation along Ellis Creek, but at the same time they have been removing it in other areas and operating a large excavator in the creek instead of doing works from the bank of the stream.

I encourage the city to improve its long-term approach to managing our natural assets and green infrastructure. Jillian Tamblyn Penticton