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March 18, 2015
Inside
Choppy waters
Hearing loss should not exclude anyone from community events. Activist Arlene Brenner found two sign language interpreters for a health workshop held in Lake Country. ...............................
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Water meters are being installed in Lake Country. The district says they encourage conservation and equal out billing. ...............................
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Flyers ■ Home Depot ■ Hometown ■ Jysk ■ Rona ■ Save On Foods ■ Shoppers Drug Mart ■ Staples
OKANAGAN LAKE showed its violent side through Lake County Saturday as the Okanagan Centre Safe Harbour saw waves crashing during a wind storm.
CONTRIBUTED
Seeing both sides of rail line corridor KEVIN PARNELL
Allan Gatzke can clearly see both sides of the upcoming referendum question on the acquisition of the CN Rail corridor through Lake Country. As a property owner who has the CN Rail corridor running through a stretch of a family-owned orchard, Gatzke says a yes vote in
the referendum will see the multi-million dollar lake-front property decrease in value by hundreds of thousands of dollars. But the long-time Oyama resident and former Lake Country councillor says he is in favour of the acquisition of the land because it will provide a needed boost for Oyama and for Lake Country, as it looks
to continue to grow as a tourism destination. “From our family’s perspective it’s a negative,” said Gatzke on Monday. “Having that land as private is a lot more marketable. But our whole family is still in favour (of acquiring the corridor) because of the impact it can have. We’ve come through many, many years of a slow decline in terms of
economic activity but this offer is something solid and an investment in the future. I think there is an opportunity to turn around that trend with some concrete investment.” Last week Gatzke hosted a meeting at his orchard cafe where about 50 people turned out to express their views on the upcoming referendum question, set for
April 25 in Lake Country. He said it started out as meeting a few people to talk about the issue, but word quickly spread and soon they had to move the location to the cafe to accommodate more people. Gatzke said about 90 per cent of those in attendance were in support of the acquisition and said those who are against purchasing the
rail corridor are like his family: Property owners directly affected by the acquisition who have the rail corridor going through their property that could be open to tourists in the future. “The biggest issue that the no voters have with this process is a result of a lack of trust that they have with municipal
SEE CORRIDOR A3