The 14 lane bowling alley

(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

After a year of the market with no takers, a group of bowlers has pitched the idea that the city buy Vernon's only bowling alley and turn it into a municipal asset.

The family-owned Lincoln Lanes five-pin bowling alley was put on the market last summer but so far the owners have only had interest from developers who would demolish the 59-year-old bowling alley and build housing.

Today, July 17, Heather Leask representing the Vernon bowling community and accompanied by a dozen or so bowlers, pitched the idea to council that the city buy the lanes and run them themselves.

"We are in the process of building a $121-million Active Living Centre space (it) could be added to that," Leask said.

Leask said bowling as an inexpensive and inclusive sport open to a variety of different fitness levels across all ages.

She pointed out that the city supports plenty of other sports, many of which are far pricier, and asked that bowling be added to the list.

Lincoln Lanes opened in 1962 and has been owned by the same family since 1968.

Last year, owner Sandi Soroka made the "very tough decision" to put the business she owns with her brother on the market so they could both retire.

A report to the city said while they've had interest, no one wants the bowling alley, just the prime real-estate land a stone's throw from downtown Vernon. It's on the market for $1.9-million.

The land is currently zoned as multi-family which makes life easier for developers, but means any new business owner would have to get the land rezoned to add a bar and restaurant to make it financially viable.

"Bowling used to be 100% private owned, but it's not going to exist here in Vernon and in many places in BC under that model," Leask said.

She pointed to the City of Port Coquitlam which purchased its privately owned bowling alley and has been operating it. Port Coquitlam's plan was to dismantle the equipment and move the bowling alley to a new location but keep the land which it wanted.

Leask pitched the idea the city buy the land, turn it into housing, and relocate the bowling alley to a city-owned building, or make it part of the new Active Living Centre.

And she did get some traction from the council.

"I think this idea has some merit," councillor Brian Guy told the meeting.

"It's something that the city should look at," councillor Akbal Mund said. "I've used that facility many times myself and it does service a different aspect of sport... there's a lot of seniors that use that during the day, there's a lot of kids groups."

Leask said that the city's administration wasn't in support of the purchase and called for a committee to be set up to explore the idea.

While council didn't commit to setting up a committee it did ask staff to come up with a report on the matter for the next council meeting.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.

News from © iNFOnews, 2023