Public outrage kills plan for waterslides in park
As if there was ever any doubt. For the second consecutive year, the controversy surrounding Skaha Lake Park easily made it the No. 1 local news story — although the ending has changed dramatically.
City council and Trio Marine Group finally bowed to public pressure — including hundreds of letters to the editor and petitions bearing thousands of signatures — and in November agreed to kill a plan to build a commercial waterslides development in the park.
“It is my sincere hope that the greater community will now move on, and the angst and the negativity surrounding it will subside, because many other good things that are happening in our city are being overshadowed by this,” said Mayor Andrew Jakubeit in early December.
A revised deal between Trio and the city guarantees no net loss of green space in the park, but gives the company control of the existing concession stand in 2018.
After one year, Trio can demolish the building and return the land under it to green space, then tear down a nearby dragon boat storage facility and — pending public approval — put up a new building that combines a concession and boathouse, but with a footprint no larger than the structures it replaces.
Trio also retains the right to operate a floating water park on the lake and gets exclusive commercial use of the beach.
Notably, the deal contains a termination clause the city has refused to make public, claiming that doing so would affect its business interests.
Nevertheless, general terms of the pact satisfied the Save Skaha Park Society, which last month withdrew its lawsuit against the city and Trio, claiming its mandate to preserve green space had been met without the need for a court order.
“We have no plans to disband…. There are lots of things in this (revised) agreement that need to be watched going forward,” said Lisa Martin, spokeswoman for the 5,000-plus-member group.
One other lawsuit against the city and Trio is still active. It was filed by Nelson Meikle, who still contends both parties have skirted various civic and provincial laws during the two years Trio has run the Skaha Marina.
“Somebody’s got to make them accountable,” Meikle said in December.
And he appears to be on to something.
Based on his complaints, the B.C. Liquor Control and Licensing Branch threatened to yank Trio’s liquor licence if it didn’t get a lease — rather than a licence to use — for the marina from the city.
Council remedied the issue earlier this month when it approved a special two-year lease that will hold Trio over while it works to complete a permanent 29-year deal in 2017.
Throughout the controversy, Trio’s owners let city council take the heat and made few public comments, until a special meeting in November, at which Tom Dyas expressed surprise at the backlash against his company’s plans.
“I don’t understand what it is that we’ve done to lose your trust,” he said.
In the many years The Herald has been counting down the year’s top 10 stories, this was the first time a specific news story has been named No. 1 in back-to-back years.