Penticton waterfront to be restored to former glory
City council hopes to have walking paths along the downtown Penticton waterfront restored to their former glory by tourist season, after voting Tuesday to go ahead with repairs made necessary by flood waters.
The Okanagan Lake walkway suffered damage to the sheet pile wall last year due to high lake levels and storm events, and a loss of sand behind the wall threatened the stability of the structure above.
Planned repairs to the walkway are split into eastern and western sections, and include removing the temporary rock cobble and concrete block supports, and installing new six-metre-high interlocking sheet piles in front of the existing piles. Sand will be used to fill the gaps and help prevent corrosion.
Council voted unanimously to move forward on the repairs, with estimated costs around $419,000.
Some of the repairs are eligible for funding assistance from the province, leaving the city on the hook for about $234,000.
The repairs were considered during budget talks.
An application has been submitted by the city for flood recovery funding assistance through the Emergency Management BC Flood Recovery Plan.
While the fate of the walkway is now clear, the status of the nearby Kiwanis Walking Pier, which remains closed due to heavy flood damage, has yet to be determined.
“It is still with the insurance company. We are still anxiously awaiting word on what the extent of the coverage will be so we can get on with the designs because there will likely be some decisions that will be required by council,” city engineer Ian Chapman told municipal leaders Tuesday.
Those decisions would relate to what on the walking pier would be repaired back to the original condition and what would be considered improvements by the insurance company.
“Which would then change the different levels of contributions which we would then have to kick in as well, but we are still waiting to hear,” Chapman added.
He noted the eventual fix likely won’t take long.
“It’s not like we’re laying concrete or cobble or the asphalt. It’s bolting pieces of wood and steel onto the existing structure in order to restore its strength,” explained Chapman, who’s optimistic the work will be finished by summer.
“We should be getting on and doing this before all the tourists all turn up and wonder why we still haven’t got to it,” he said.
“We’re very anxious to get going and our consultant is very anxious to get going.”