Community members gathered outside Penticton City Hall yesterday to send a message to the committee working on a new parks and recreation master plan.
Lynn Crassweller said the protestors wanted to ensure city hall realized both the value of green spaces and the value of including the word unencumbered as part of the definition of park to be included in the master plan.
“So every 10 years we are not out protesting because the mayor of the day decides it is time to make money off greenspaces,” said Crassweller.
Unlike other rallies, the city’s chief administrative officer came out to speak to the rally and invite them inside to not only view the committee meeting, but ask for a representative to speak.
Weeber said the mayor directed him to establish contact with the group, and that he plans to arrange another meeting with them, and that there will be an opportunity for public input in May, after the second draft of the master plan is released.
Georges Jansen was chosen to speak to the committee.
“You are disregarding the people,” he said, noting that city council should have paid more attention in 2015 to the numbers of people that turned out to speak against leasing Skaha Lake Park.
“A park is for people, plain and simple,” said Jansen.
The commercial use in parks policy under development and the debate over including “unencumbered” in the definition of a park is an extension of the controversy that has dogged Penticton over since the summer of 2015, when city council agreed to lease a portion of Skaha Park to a commercial developer, which intended to build a waterslide complex.
Committee member Peter Dooling, who brought the unencumbered definition forward, said including it would help prevent the Skaha Lake Park controversy from happening again.
“This word enables protection,” said Dooling. “The desired state is that they (parks) be unencumbered.”
“There is clearly a lack of trust in the community,” said chair Ron Ramsay, summing up the concerns that led to the rally.
Mayor Andrew Jakubeit agrees trust is a problem, but said developing a commercial use policy is key to stabilizing the situation. The city has never had a policy, he explained, clearly defining what commercial activities—whether temporary kiosks or permanent structures—are allowed in parks, or what factors would trigger different levels of public processes, from town halls up to referendums.
“Some think that creating a commercial use policy means we want to see more commercialization, that is not the case. It is simply ensuring there is more structure and definitions around what are permitted uses and the process to gain public approval,” wrote Jakubeit in an email. “That way it is not left to interpretation by staff or the council of day because many people have different opinions of what constitutes commercial activity, their location, tenure, impact, or benefit to the community.”
