KEVIN PARNELL
Morning Star Staff
The Aspen Grove Golf Course and restaurant in Lake Country will close for good Dec. 24, paving the way for a new middle school and playing fields to be eventually built on the site.
The final condition of the sale of Aspen Grove to the Central Okanagan School District has been removed after the Agriculture Land Commission approved non-farm use of the land which is protected under the Agriculture Land Reserve.
At Aspen Grove, employees have already been told the doors are closing on a popular meeting place and Lake Country’s only golf course.
“Everything is great around here,” said golfer Larry Babcock, who travels regularly with his wife and friends from Kelowna to play at Aspen Grove.
“It’s too bad. It’s a little jewel and there aren’t many left.”
In order to accommodate existing and projected enrolment in Lake Country, a grade 7-8 middle school program is being created at George Elliot Secondary School starting September 2014. A six-classroom portable annex is being constructed on-site to accommodate the grade 7 students.
A new middle school in Lake Country is the fourth priority in the school district’s five-year capital plan. The construction of the new school is dependent on funding support from the Ministry of Education.
