City renews agreement for Airport Beach

Airport Beach got its first cleanup of the summer this week, after the City of Penticton renewed its agreement with the landowner.

Related: City of Penticton to maintain Airport Beach

“We had an agreement in place with them last year to do beach cleanup for public access,” said Peter Weeber, Penticton’s chief administrative officer, noting that the agreement had to be signed to renew it for this year.

“We don’t do anything unless we have a written agreement,” said Weeber.

Until 2014, the City of Penticton looked after the beach under a lease agreement with the owners, the Kruger family. Last year, the city and the Kruger family negotiated a new agreement to make the beach publicly accessible.

Related: Penticton loses lease on Airport Beach

Weeber said the city is often questioned about the status of the airport beach, and they are installing signage to clarify the status. The city is also keeping an eye on beach usage.

“If people are using it, that’s great for the community, but if we find people aren’t using the beach, we’re not going to invest the money. But people are using it, and we get lots of calls asking if that is a public beach,” said Weeber. “It’s a partnership. They give us access, we do the cleanup, it’s pretty simple.”