The problem with setting out long-term plans is that you can never tell when circumstances might change.
At Penticton city council’s April 7 meeting, Penticton residents will get a chance to say what should happen to a 50-year plan set in motion by the city in 1990.
That was the year when the council of the day endorsed an ambitious parks acquisition program, to purchase all residences along Skaha Lake east of Sudbury Beach, and convert them into park space.
“The acquisition plan was anticipated to take between 40 and 50 years, but to date, only one property has been purchased,” said planning manager Blake Laven.
He presented city council with a proposal to remove the parks dedication from the affected properties and change it to Medium Density Residential.
The ambitious plan has already been cut back once. In 1992, after purchasing 298 South Beach Dr., the city changed the parks acquisition policy to only include the seven properties to the east of that property, eliminating 15 other properties from the plan.
“I have heard from a few people in the neighbourhood. One or two want to see it stay as single family and a couple of the property owners were really excited about the opportunity of having the medium density designation on their property,” said Laven.
He added that the medium density designation would allow owners to come forward with development proposals.