Going into 2016, Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said the city is preparing to make its response to a lawsuit filed in September by opponents to a deal leasing part of Skaha Lake Park to a private company.
“I think we have got to a point where we have done our research and are ready to submit our response,” said Jakubeit. “What is missing is having another conversation with the development group to see where they are at and see what their commitment level is. It will help dictate how we move forward.”
Jakubeit said he has directed city staff to reach out and meet with Trio Marine Group to gauge their resolve to continue, or modify their plans, regarding developing Skaha Marina and building a waterslide complex on an adjacent piece of Skaha Lake Park.
Penticton City Council has had its ups and downs in 2015, but probably no decision they made drew more shows of condemnation and support than giving the go ahead to a deal with Trio Marine Group for a 29-year-lease on a section of Skaha Lake Park.
That decision resulted in not only protest rallies and a constant stream of letters to the editor, but a challenge in B.C. Supreme Court to have the lease deal overturned.
The series of protests included two rallies on the steps of city hall that drew several hundred opponents and supporters of the project. Despite the very vocal and large opposition — organizers gathered thousands of signatures on a petition in a couple of weeks — council refused to reconsider their decision leading to a scene at the July 20 council meeting with the protestors singing This Land is Your Land from the gallery and Jakubeit banging his gavel for order.
“Skaha Park is not on the agenda tonight. We won’t be talking about it tonight,” he said at the time, to cries of protest “If this meeting continues to be disrupted, then we can’t have our meeting and will adjourn. This council is not going to make a decision based on emotion.”
Looking back, Jakubeit said council wasn’t prepared for the intensity of the reaction.
“Certainly when the first rally happened I don’t think anyone expected it to be that mob-like frenzy it turned into be,” said Jakubeit. “No matter what decision we make, Skaha or whatever else, there is always going to be someone who doesn’t like it.”
Instead of the protest dying away over time, organizers formed the Save Skaha Park Society and began soliciting donations to fund a legal challenge, which was filed on Sept. 25, charging that the city had no right to make such a deal without obtaining approval of the electorate.
Supporters of the park also organized, and there were two more rallies: one in October where about 1,000 opponents turned out to form a human chain around the lease area, and again in November, when about 100 supporters turned out with the intention of forming a giant heart.
Gerry Karr, one of the organizers of the Save Skaha Park society, said there are a number of reasons the waterslide story gained so much traction, relating to both the substance of the project and the process the city followed getting there.
“Once you take away greenspace you will never get it back. Really it is about losing precious parkland,” said Karr. “If we let them take it away now, it really sets the precedent for their ability to do that to other parks space in the city, without public consultation.”
Karr also mentioned concerns about the planning process that led up to Trio Marine’s first public release of information in May, when they announced plans to develop the Skaha Marina, which they were already leasing, and plans to lease the park area for their 110,000 square foot waterslide park.
At the time, Jakubeit described the lease area as not well-used.
“I look at it as more as really enhancing the park experience, using pieces of that park that are seldom walked upon,” said Jakubeit in a May interview with the Western News.
In September, Trio’s marketing co-ordinator, Roger Hulstein, confirmed that the lack of public information on their proposal, despite having been under discussion for more than a year was due to a non-disclosure agreement signed with the city.
“The document said we would work with City of Penticton and develop a plan for Skaha Lake Marina as well as the surrounding area. The NDA was in effect until there was factual information on the project and all details of the proposal were completed,” wrote Hulstein. “We agreed we would not inform the public of speculative information until all the agreements were in place.”
