Court forces Kelowna lakeshore hotel to open gate blocking access to public boardwalk
The latest court challenge over a stretch of a public boardwalk through a Hotel Eldorado patio came down in the City of Kelowna’s favour.
The boardwalk crosses the hotel’s dining room patio so it has, at times, locked the gate to prevent public access.
The gate is now open.
“The city applied for an update based on changing conditions,” Hotel Eldorado general manager Mark Jeanes told iNFOnews.ca. “It came into effect on Monday. Basically, we comply with the court ruling as we’ve been doing throughout this process.”
The dispute surfaced last year over the legality of the city’s right-of-way across the patio but came to a head after the the hotel locked the gate. It argued that leaving it open across its dining room patio would put it in danger of violating COVID restrictions in place at the time.
Last fall, a court agreed and ruled that the gate could be closed all day when the patio was being used. But, the ruling also said, it needed to be open when it was not in use. That happened on days when the weather made it impractical to dine outdoors.
When warmer weather hit in the spring, the Hotel Eldorado started locking the gate again. The city went back to court, arguing that the COVID restrictions no longer applied and was successful in getting the latest ruling that it has to stay open during the day.
READ MORE: Court may be only remedy for public beach access through Kelowna’s Eldorado Hotel
“We’ve only ever been concerned with WorkSafeBC compliance and the health and safety of guests, staff and members of the general public,” Jeanes said.
The issue of the legality of the right-of-way is expected to go to court in the fall.
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