Salvation Army wary of Kinney road closure

Permanently closing a portion of Kinney Avenue will have serious repercussions on Penticton’s branch of the Salvation Army, city council will hear today.

Near the end of today’s meeting, council is slated to adopt a road closure bylaw that will erase a 50metre stretch of Kinney Ave. between Main and South Main streets.

The closure is necessary for decommissioning the so-called Points Intersection later this year, which will be replaced with a new roundabout about 250 metres south at Galt Avenue and South Main Street and a new signalized intersection at Galt Avenue and Skaha Lake Road.

But closing that portion of Kinney Avenue will also severely limit public access to the Salvation Army thrift store and food bank, according to property owner.

“At this time, the property can easily be accessed by a left turn at the Kinney Avenue traffic light with an advanced left turn signal. If this closure goes ahead there will be no way of accessing the property from the north and no way of turning south leaving the property from the back entrance,” wrote George Stayberg in a letter attached to council’s agenda package.

He goes on to note other property access points off South Main Street became “very steep” during a previous road works project and, “If the proposed road closure goes ahead, the property will go from having very good access to very poor access and this will have a huge impact on the viability of this property.”

Noting he had “no success” trying to set up meetings to discuss the issue in-person with city staff, Stayberg is asking council to consider other solutions.

Also attached to the agenda package is a separate letter from the Salvation Army, which serves up to 200 people per day at the food bank, in addition to all the business at the thrift store.

“We depend entirely on donations at our thrift store. The complete closure of Kinney could eliminate a lot of that…. The more difficult we make it for them to donate, the less likely they will donate to us,” states the letter, which is signed by Maj. Paul Trickett and Alan Madsen.

Council gave first three readings to the closure bylaw at its July 22 meeting. A separate road closure for a portion of Nanaimo Avenue East, where a bridge over

Penticton Creek was recently removed, is also slated for adoption today.

In other business, council will be asked to approve a development permit required to put up a six-storey, 26-unit apartment building at 970 Dynes Ave., give first reading to a zoning amendment required to build an indoor baseball training facility at 1603 Dartmouth Rd., and send a proposed 16-unit apartment building on the 600 block of Ellis Street to a public hearing Sept. 6.

Also on the agenda are a new food security strategy for Penticton, an update on city finances and a request to spend $75,000 on the next phase of preliminary work for a new protective services building in the downtown core.

Finally, council will sit for a series of three public hearings beginning at 6 p.m. The matters are: zoning and Official Community Plan amendments for a 10-unit duplex project at 770 Arglye St.; rezoning for a four-unit duplex project at 747 and 755 Revelstoke Ave.; and rezoning for a four-unit townhouse project at 561 Jermyn Ave.

Council begins meeting at 1 p.m. The proceedings can be viewed live in council chambers or via a live stream at: penticton.ca.