This year's planned work to restore a segment of Penticton Creek has been postponed due to timing and application issues.

(STEVE ARSTAD / iNFOnews.ca)

PENTICTON - The Penticton Creek Restoration Committee is shelving plans for this year’s creek revitalization project.

The section, known as the Reach 3A lower project, faced numerous challenges and issues that needed to be overcome, including a tight window in which the work could be done this year.

The committee decided not to move ahead with this year’s plans following a committee meeting on Wednesday, July 5.

Committee chair Bryn White called the decision “disappointing,” adding the group has worked hard to continue the project, but too many factors got in the way this year.

“We were just getting too compressed for time to make it happen this year,” White said, adding the approval process took longer than expected.

Flooding this spring didn’t help as agencies dealt with that emergency rather than the restoration application.

White said heavy equipment is also in short supply as that machinery is in use making repairs to flood damaged areas.

Timing for the tender also threatened to take a bite out of the time needed to prepare for construction.

“Everything was getting compressed, right up to the 'fish window' in which we were allowed to work in the creek,” she says.

White says discussions will take place between funders, which include outside granting agencies and foundation groups, to let them know the project has been postponed.

The committee will meet again in August to begin discussions about what needs to be done for the rest of the year. She says the postponement does give the group some extra lead time to source materials needed for restoration.

“There’s also more time for consultation, engagement and discussion with landowners. That’s probably what will occur over the next year,” she says.

Public consultation opportunities are planned to begin at the Sept. 9 Penticton Farmers' Market, coinciding with this year’s spawning run. The Penticton Fly Fishers Association will have a fish trap set up by the art gallery to allow the public the opportunity to see the process of counting fish.

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