PENTICTON — For decades, Three Mile Beach has been Penticton’s unofficial nude beach. But now it’s clad with “No Trespassing” signs.
Beach-goers are collecting signatures in an effort to “save and protect 3mile clothing-optional beach.”
“I think the owner has maybe overstepped his bounds in some ways. He’s kind of usurping access to public property,” says Rick Giles, a frequent beach user.
But one of the property owner believes sunbathers have actually been on his land without realizing it.
The Pinkowski family has been trying to sell their acreage for years. Last month they finally found a buyer but the deal went south.
“We had a wealthy individual who wanted to purchase the property and was basically chased off by trespassers,” says Cary Pinkowski.
Since then, they’ve added no trespassing signs and have even hired a security guard for the summer.
Monday morning, workers erected a fence to further ward off the general public.
But natural resource officers were on the scene shortly after to assess the situation.
The Ministry said a portion of the fence is on Crown land.
The owner has agreed to take that part down so people can legally access the beach without crossing private land.
The City of Penticton says it is not intervening in the situation because the area is Crown land and private property.
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