Commercial users of the Gellatly Bay boat launch could have to pay to use it by this summer.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/City of West Kelowna

A West Kelowna city councillor is pushing to have his city follow Kelowna’s example and charge commercial boat companies for using city-owned boat launches.

Councillor Garrett Millsap wants the new system in place in time for this summer’s boating season.

“It’s a no-brainer,” Millsap told iNFOnews.ca. “We have people who are using our boat launch in West Kelowna for commercial enterprises. That boat launch is paid for by the taxpayers of West Kelowna because boat launches are considered parks.”

He pointed out that residents have to pay a fee to go skating or use the city’s soccer dome, so questioned the rationale of having people make money by not paying for a city-owned facility.

“If you’re running a business and you’re renting boats and you’re valeting boats into the water and you’re making money off of using the boat launch – personally I don’t own a boat or have a boat at a valet, why should I be paying taxes to dredge the boat launch when people are making money off it?” he asked.

Millsap took notice of the City of Kelowna bringing in $2,000 per boat fees for commercial users in 2022.

READ MORE: Kelowna considering user fees for city boat launches

That was before he was elected to council in the fall of 2022.

When the 2024 West Kelowna budget was reviewed recently, Millsap noticed a $183,000 cost for dredging the Gellatly Bay boat launch this year. The budget also shows another $199,500 dredging cost for 2027.

West Kelowna has two municipal boat launches but the main one is at Gellatly Bay. The Casa Loma launch doesn’t have docks alongside.

“It’s not a user-friendly boat launch,” Millsap said. “You’ve got to know what you’re doing to launch a boat there. You’ve got to get wet to get in the boat.”

He can, however, see it being more developed in the future and expects it will be included in any fees the city brings in.

Since the Gellatly Bay boat launch is not monitored, it’s impossible to tell if commercial usage there has picked up since Kelowna started charging, but Millsap suspects it has.

“If Kelowna’s charging it and we’re not charging it, you’re just going to have people continuously saying: ‘Well, let’s set up operations in West Kelowna,’” he said. “Do I think it’s happening? Absolutely.”

In 2022, Lake Country district council asked its staff to look into fees for that community but nothing has yet been done. In January 2024, the motion was brought back to council who asked staff to bring it back as a priority item.

Peachland has two community boat launches and there are a number in the Central Okanagan regional district. At this time there are no efforts to make commercial users pay there, although the Lake Country motion does ask that the regional district also look into it.

At this time Millsap is only asking that commercial operators be charged but that may change in the future.

“At some point I do want to see tourists, when they bring their boats in, that they have to buy a pass because we need to know where the boat comes from, because of the mussels,” Millsap said.

The Okanagan Basin Water Board has been fighting for years to get better regulations to prevent invasive quagga and zebra mussels from infesting regional waters.

READ MORE: Newly announced federal funding won't prevent the spread of invasive mussels in BC

Chambers of Commerce from Penticton to Kamloops have called for a temporary ban on out-of-province boats.

Millsap is taking a notice of motion to the West Kelowna council meeting tonight, Feb. 27, asking staff to look into ways to bring in the fees.

“After I make the motion, I’ll be looking for staff to bring (the motion) back at the next meeting, so hopefully we will move forward with it for the summer,” he said. “I’m not going to hold my breath, but I’m hoping it will be in place.”

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