Kelowna Springs Golf Course

Image Credit: Lucide Visual

The conversion of the Kelowna Springs Golf Course to industrial land was no spur of the moment decision that Kelowna city council is now aiming to reverse.

Local and senior governments over the past decade have focused on creating a “Gateway” to Kelowna’s north industrial end.

“Millions of dollars from Kelowna, from the province, from the feds, have been put into infrastructure improvements on the highway and surrounding roadways to support trucking,” Garry Fawley, CEO of Denciti Development Corp., told iNFOnews.ca.

Of course, trucking is essential for industrial development.

“The Gateway was seen as a collaboration of industrial with the airport and UBCO,” he said. “It’s well conceived and there’s over a decade of reports supporting it. Planning, the airport authority, they’re all very supportive of the idea.”

It was that foundation, combined with a four-year process to write a new Official Community Plan that was adopted by city council last year with Kelowna Springs being designated as future industrial land, that led the Density buying the land.

“After four years of staff work and community outreach, the council made a unanimous decision,” Fawley said. “We went in to talk to staff. They said: ‘Bring it on. You’re going to have to spend about 18 months getting a package together.’ I said OK.”

He has trouble understanding why Kelowna council is so quickly considering reversing its decision and designating the 106-acre property as recreational for the foreseeable future.

“We’re dealing with multiple municipalities and everyone is screaming for employment lands,” Fawley said. “The thing was very well received. We were unconditional on the (purchase) contract before this even came up. We had removed conditions and put in a major deposit. We didn’t see this as being a problem.”

It became a problem in August of 2022 when a motion went to council to reverse the decision to designate the land as industrial. It failed.

READ MORE: Kelowna council 'hastening the demise' of Kelowna Springs Golf Course: Councillor

Then it became an election issue and has now been brought back by councillor Luke Stack.

He told city council Monday, Feb. 27, he’s received more correspondence on the golf course than on any other item in his 14-year city council career. Much of that comes from outraged golfers who value the flat, accessible golf course just south of Kelowna’s airport.

At the meeting, Stack won the overwhelming support of council to order staff to come back with a proposed bylaw to make the change back to recreational. That could come back to council as early as next week. If it’s passed, it would go to a public hearing before any final decision is made.

The only real debate at the council meeting was over how soon the public hearing should be held, with some councillors suggesting six months.

That’s what Fawley is asking for given, in part, that the loud pro-golf audience in council chambers yesterday only represents, to his mind, one demographic in the city.

“Before you reverse this, allow us to go out in the community and ensure that they see what Kelowna is losing by going the other way,” he told iNFOnews.ca. “If we build it, the infrastructure is in place so no more taxpayers dollars are needed. There will be immediate employment with good paying jobs. The taxes will go up significantly.

“Municipalities love employment land because a lot of the dollars go to the bottom line to support other programs. And, of course, the development cost charges would be significant and could be applied to green space or parks in what, I think, would be a better location.”

In a news release issued by the company last week it said more than 1,000 new jobs would be created and $1.17 million in annual tax revenues would go to the city.

Fawley told iNFOnews.ca that he’s looking forward to convincing industries cramped in scarce and expensive Lower Mainland industrial sites to relocate to Kelowna.

He said he has support from the business community and needs time to muster that support for a public hearing so council gets all perspectives.

That being said, he also wants to meet with the opponents and come up with a "win-win" solution.

Part of that would be to leave some of the land as recreational. He said he’s already been in conversation with the pickleball community about the possibility of year-round pickle ball courts on site – away from residential areas where they sometimes trigger complaints.

If he’s given six months, he’ll push to collapse the 18 months it would normally take to create a development plan into those six months so he can go to council with a clear outline of what the ultimate project would look like.

While much has been said about the benefits of the golf course as a recreational site, concerns have also been raised about wetlands and springs on the site.

The Simpson or Ackland pond is a wetland that is next to the Kelowna Springs property and was actually formed in 1965, Fawley said. Any development would be governed by provincial set-back requirements.

The ponds on the golf course itself were built in the 1980s. Before that, the land was a hayfield with no trees on it, he said.

There are springs on the land.

“That’s water management,” Fawley said. “There are 3.2 million gallons of water being pumped during the summer to keep the golf course green. Under water management, we will control water flow, there won’t be a problem with the flooding. We’re also going to explore if there is a better use of that surplus water because it does come in the spring and summer.”

While the company is committed to operate the site as a golf course this year, that could be the end of that use, no matter what council decides.

“We bought the land based on industrial use going forward,” Fawley said. “We can’t continue to operate it as an 18-hole golf course.”

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