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Boating season in Kelowna doesn’t normally get started until May each year.

But the City of Kelowna’s decision to charge commercial users of its boat launches this summer have some of them pointing fingers at each other and the general public over whose fault it is that there’s overcrowding and chaos, particularly at the Water Street boat launch.

“I don’t see a problem paying a fee, but I’m interested for that to work for the benefit of commercial users,” Andre Plyusnin, owner of Sunwave Boat Rentals told iNFOnews.ca. “Make a commercial ramp with only commercial users and we’ll pay a membership fee or whatever.”

He has a dozen boats that he rents but, because of the impending fees, expects to cut his fleet in half this summer.

READ MORE: Kelowna boat club owner speaks out against problem operators at launches

Parking is part of the problem at the Water Street boat launch because there’s nothing there for boat trailers, only regular vehicles.

Plyusnin’s suggestion is to take out the existing parking and leave it for short-term boat trailer parking. That way, people can launch their boats, get the trailers out of the way for the next person while still loading gear into their own boats or waiting for friends or customers to show up.

A bigger part of the problem is the time boats stay parked at the deteriorating docks bordering the launch area.

“With a company, we’re going to get licences taken away if we occupy the space but the reality is, if a regular person occupies the space for more than 15 minutes – they (city staff) are aiming for 15 minutes there at the ramp, most of the companies are aware of that and we actually try to manage within the 15 minutes," Plyusnin said.

"What you see there, is regular people get pissed off at the companies where in reality we’re only spending 10 minutes there but nobody gets pissed off at the regular guy who occupies the ramp for 20, 30 minutes. What can the city do?”

The problem also lies with customers who are “regular” people who don’t necessarily have much experience with these boats but the city doesn’t want Sunwave to spend an extra five minutes instructing them, he said.

It’s also the laisse faire attitude of some of the customers that cause delays.

“They show up and they can just stand there,” Plyusnin said. “They don’t want to go anywhere. They wait for the other party to show up. What can we do? We have a specified time. We drop the boat. It’s ready there but it’s not moving because the renters are the ones holding it up.”

He’s also seen regular boaters tie up at the dock and wander off for hours. In October, he saw one boat stay for 24 hours.

Plyusnin suggested the city put in a commercial boat launch near the former Tolko mill site when it redevelops.

Derik Gould, owner of Free Spirit Boating, came up with his own solution, spending $15,000 on buoys and anchors so his boats stay in the lake from May through September.

“I hop on my Seadoo, go to my boat, drive it over and pick up the people and they go on their way,” he told iNFOnews.ca.

That way, his time at the launch is kept to a minimum. But he too has customers who are not punctual.

“No one’s on time,” Gould said. “People are spending $1,500 to $2,000 a day and they show up two hours late.”

While operators point to others as being the “bad apples” who are forcing the city to take this approach, they’re united in their desire for the city to do something to not only fix the problems but to upgrade the deteriorating walkways.

“I hope the city takes that money and they go and rebuild those docks,” Gould said. “Those docks are very sad. They’re unsafe, nails sticking up and any more than four people step in one spot it sinks.”

City staff expect to have a fee structure back before council within the next few weeks so it’s in place for this summer’s boating season.

READ MORE: Tough new rules, fees coming for commercial users of Kelowna boat launches

Staff told council that the commercial operators make up 25% of the use of the boat launches and have been the subject of many complaints.

Judging from what those commercial operators say, there’s plenty of blame to go around for the congestion and other problems at the boat launches.

The controversy has also drawn the attention of the public who have responded, mostly anonymously, on social media.

One of their beefs is about wealthy Albertans using taxpayer-funded facilities for free.

While some, like Free Spirit Boating, are registered in Alberta, they operate in Kelowna legally and pay for business licences and don’t object to paying some kind of reasonable fee.

Sunwave’s Plyusnin said almost 50% of his renters are locals, often taking visitors out on the water.

The reality is, the interest in boating on Okanagan Lake is just going to continue to grow so congestion, and tempers, are bound to keep rising.

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