A berm with a pathway on top is planned for the shoreline north of Strathcona Park in Kelowna.
Image Credit: GOOGLE EARTH
January 14, 2020 - 11:30 AM
Supporters of public access along the Okanagan Lake shoreline will have one less obstacle to overcome if the City of Kelowna gets $350,000 boost from the province.
PLANKelowna posted maps to its Facebook page last summer highlighting four shoreline walks between Mission Creek and the Bennett Bridge and where they are interrupted.
The third leg of the walk is from Kinsmen Park to Royal Avenue. It requires walking for a bit on a rough path north of the Maude Roxby Wetland but then ends at Strathcona Park next to Kelowna General Hospital. Walkers are forced to head out to Abbott Street until they get to Royal Avenue beach access.
“The yellow line on the map indicates the unbuilt link to Royal Ave. Beach Access promised by the city for many years,” a June 2019 PLANKelowna Facebook post states.
That will change this year if the City gets a provincial flood control grant to build a berm that will run past four houses that the City bought over the last decade, then subdivided off a shoreline stretch. The berm will have a cycling and walking path along the top.
It’s being done because of the 2017 floods in the city.
“We’ve now found out they have to raise the beach area to a flood resistant elevation” Rod MacLean, the City’s utility planning manager told iNFOnews.ca. “It’s a bit of a low spot in the system so we want to make sure it’s bermed up.”
There are trees and vegetation growing into the lake along that stretch so it’s not accessible for walking below the high water mark. It’s legal to walk between the lake and the high water mark.
The total cost of the project is $495,000 with the province being asked to contribute $350,000.
Kelowna city council approved the grant application yesterday, Jan. 13.
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