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A 26-acre land purchase by the regional district will formally connect Goats Peak Regional Park with Whitworth Road in West Kelowna.

The land purchase was announced by the Regional District of the Central Okanagan today, March 1.

“It’s going to be an amazing portion of our regional parks system,” Wayne Darlington, the regional district’s parks planning manager, told iNFOnews.ca. “The expansion of Goats Peak is a pretty amazing piece of land that protects cultural and ecological interests in our area, so it’s awesome.”

The 128-acre Goats Peak park was opened in September 2019, but the trail down into West Kelowna was fenced off since it ran through private property.

READ MORE: New Goats Peak regional park doesn't quite connect to West Kelowna

This shows the new parkland in the yellow hatched section. the red line is the existing trail network in Goats Peak Regional Park.

Image Credit: Submitted/Regional District of Central Okanagan

With the help of the federal government, the regional district bought the land for $2.2 million and will spend the next few months to get it ready for public use, hopefully by early summer.

While the trail itself is in fairly good shape, the connection to Whitworth Road is rough and requires some scrambling over loose rocks up a cliff, Darlington said.

The plan is to build about 15 stairs up the cliff with a “bike rail” attached.

“You put your bike in the rail and it holds your tire on the rail so it’s easier to push it up and you don’t have to go over the steps,” Darlington explained. “It rides smoothly up the stairs so you hop on your bike and away you go. It may be challenging for electric, but they might be able to give a little throttle bump as well.”

There’s a road through the park the leads to Seclusion Bay Road on the Peachland side. It will still be a challenge to get down into Peachland but the Trails of the Okanagans Society is working with Peachland on a potential switchback trail on Drought Hill beside Highway 97.

READ MORE: A trail from Sicamous to Osoyoos depends on West Kelowna to Peachland problem

The purchase also allows for a trail connection from Whitworth Road to the Gellatly Nut Farm Regional Park. There is an existing pathway along Gellatly Bay to the north.

The regional district also bought a 10-acre parcel at 2605 Hebert Rd. that will be added to Glen Canyon Regional Park.

It cost $910,000 and straddles Powers Creek, which will allow for future trail connections and new trail development in that park, the regional district said.

Separate from that, Frind Estate Winery is offering to provide a 100-metre long waterfront pathway through its property on Pritchard Drive.

This shows the dock and the waterfront of Frind Estate Winery.

Image Credit: Submitted/City of West Kelowna

It has a rezoning application going to the City of West Kelowna’s Agriculture Advisory Committee tomorrow, March 2.

The winery wants to change the zoning so that a dock it built in Okanagan Lake in 2020, which was permitted by the province, can accommodate up to six boats instead of the one it’s zoned for now.

“Public access to the waterfront is already permitted and encouraged on the winery/vineyard property during the winery operating hours; however, acknowledging the City’s long term goal to complete a continuous public access waterfront trail, this application includes a commitment to formally protect public access through the property,” states a report going to the committee. “This public pedestrian access will connect Pritchard Drive to the existing public access on the Boucherie Beach Resort, Aberdeen Park and Paradise Estates properties.”

Pritchard Drive contains some of the most expensive homes in the Interior of B.C. with four houses listed in the top 100 for assessed value by B.C. Assessments.

That includes the seventh most expensive home on the list, at 1683 Pritchard Dr., valued at $11.3 million.

READ MORE: We are so close to a rail trail connecting Osoyoos to Sicamous

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