Residents can’t believe lakefront land still for sale
Some Lake Country residents say they are surprised and dismayed the town still intends to sell waterfront property in the Carr’s Landing neighbourhood.
There is “resounding support” in the community for retention of the municipally owned lakeshore, critics of the town plan say.
“We were blindsided by this most recent proposal,” Cara Reed of Friends of Gable Beach says of the town’s revised waterfront plan.
The group is encouraging people to attend the March 6 Lake Country council meeting to voice their disapproval of the town’s plan to sell the waterfront land to adjacent property owners for $1.35 million.
Town officials plan to use the proceeds, as well as additional money from the municipality, to buy another property for the expansion of Coral Beach Park.
More than 1,500 people signed a petition against a town plan last year to sell the municipally owned waterfront lands and use the money to repay part of Lake Country’s $2.6 million debt to the City of Kelowna, incurred as part of the purchase of the Rail Trail.
Many critics believed the fact councillors decided not to move forward with the plan signalled their realization the community was against the scheme. To see the idea revived, albeit in a way that puts the land sale proceeds to a different purpose, has outraged some commentators on the Save Gable Beach Facebook page.
“This whole situation stinks,” a poster named Molly Beckett wrote.
“Selling off precious lakefront to a small few is never win-win,” a poster named Sharon Loban wrote.