Peachland POST YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
The week of January 31, 2025
HIDDEN LIFE OF WATER The signs are there, if you look, Judy Wyper says P.6
TIPPING POINT Peachland has found enough players for team of their own P.8
Visit our website at peachlandpost.org • Vol. 1 Issue 5
ABOUT TOWN Find out what’s going on and where it’s happening P.11
BRIDGING THE GAP? CUPE local not happy with final contract offer P.3
BUY and HOLD PROPERTY LINES
Far from random, the recent Trepanier land purchase by the district is part of wider vision for Peachland parks By Jeff McDonald
F
Mark Rucker photos
Staff Reporter
ew people took notice when the District of Peachland announced the purchase of a piece of land at 5180 Trepanier Bench Road last month for $1.5 million. The announcement referred to the property’s 1.3-hectare size and relatively flat topography and a great view of Okanagan Lake. It also mentioned a public engagement process that would generate a staff recommendation to Peachland council on the property’s future use. Darin Schaal, Peachland’s director of planning and development services, suggested a park as the most likely use. “At this time we don’t have a firm direction one way or the other, but I think the big thing to note is that this property that we acquired has been designated in the Official Community Plan for the last 30-plus years as parks and open space, so that I think kind of shows an intent right there,” he said. Schaal said the Trepanier purchases
fits into what he describes as Peachland’s long history of making significant parkland acquisitions that become beloved community assets, especially along Beach Avenue. “There’s been some key acquisitions along our waterfront in the past, showing a lot of vision for where and what type of parks the community would really value,” he said. “Probably one of our biggest assets, and probably one of the biggest assets on a regional level too, are the Centennial Walkway and Heritage Park. So I look at this in the same sort of vein.” One possibility for recovering the $1.5 million that taxpayers shelled out for the Trepanier purchase is similar to how the district funded the purchase of Turner Park, a large and mostly flat site now under development and scheduled to open to the public this spring. Schaal referred to it as “buy-sever-sell.” “We bought the whole property, and at the same time we severed off a part of a property that we then sold to a developer SEE PROPERTY PAGE 7
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