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Trio Marine and city agreements explained

Trio Marine Group still has until May 2017 to fulfill the conditions in the waterslide agreement.
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A proposed waterslide development will be off the table if council votes Thursday to accept new agreements

There might be some question whether the original Skaha Marina agreement made with the city remains valid, but Trio still has until May 2017 to fulfill the conditions in the waterslide agreement.

“I think Trio’s position is that both agreements are live. Our view might be that the marina one isn’t, but certainly the water park one is,” said Jakubeit. “That is why we tried to have the settlement agreement take the waterslides off the table.”

Read more: Penticton revises Skaha Lake Park Agreements

From the beginning, there have always been two agreements between the City of Penticton and Trio Marine Group.

First, there was the agreement to lease, expand and enhance the Skaha Marina. Alongside that, the city signed an agreement leasing an adjacent chunk of green space in Skaha Lake Park, where Trio planned to build their waterslide complex.

Last September,  city council gave Trio an extra year to meet the conditions in the Skaha Marina agreement. Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said that was due to a couple of factors, including only recently receiving the joint lease from the province, and a request from the Penticton Indian Band to be involved.

“To really have that resolved in a 10-day period was not realistic. The fact the band wanted to be part of the process, they felt a year was probably a bit more realistic to deal with that,” said Jakubeit. “That’s why that got extended a year.”

Read more: Trio Marine deadline extended one year to deal with issues

That extension was just for the marina agreement, Jakubeit said.

“That next condition precedent for the water park wasn’t going to be until May 2017,” said Jakubeit.

What makes the marina agreement contentious was that Trio still didn’t meet the extended deadline.

“On Oct. 1, we did not get detailed designs or a financing commitment,” said Jakubeit.

A second extension wasn’t given to Trio, but by the beginning of October, the city had switched gears to focus on replacing the agreements with Trio.

“The focus for council, and in the community, was the waterslide and we were going to negotiate so that wasn’t part of the equation anymore,” said Jakubeit.

Jakubeit added the city doesn’t want to end up in court fighting over whether the original marina agreement is still valid, especially since nullifying that agreement would still leave waterslides as a possibility.

“Our first focus was to find a negotiated agreement that deals with the most contentious issues, which were the waterslide and any commercialization of green space,” said Jakubeit, adding that the revised agreement doesn’t seem to have calmed public concern. “We’ve got what people were asking for and I think it is fair to say there is still a level of animosity. Whether that is right or wrong, it still exists.”

Read more: Councillor calls for referendum on Skaha Park issue

Council will be discussing the settlement agreement and the enhanced marina agreement at a special council meeting, starting at 7 p.m. on Dec. 1 in city council chambers.