Campground on farmland gets nod, but it’s likely last

The last farmland campground likely to be approved in Kelowna was given the green light Monday.

City council endorsed plans for an agri-tourism operation with nine RV spots at 1160 McKenzie Rd. on the Rutland bench.

It was first approved two years ago and rezoned for an agri-tourist operation, but was never developed.

In 2016, citing numerous problems with permitting RV parks on agricultural land, council decided not to accept any more applications. Issues were said to include such things as noise, disruption to the surrounding neighbourhood, loss of productive farmland and the parks being occupied by longterm renters rather than tourists.

Despite the land already being rezoned for the RV park under consideration on Monday, the project still proved controversial among councillors.

That’s because some site work, involving grading of the land, has already been done by the owners, the Gill family, without the necessary city approval.

There have been other problems with agri-tourism operations in the Rutland area, Mayor Colin Basran noted.

“I don’t know if it’s something in the water, but sometimes farmers up there don’t always follow the rules,” Basran said.

Council voted 7-2 to issue the required development permit for the RV park, with councillors Luke Stack and Ryan Donn opposed.