KELOWNA – With more than 200 of them scattered around Kelowna, chances are you frequent a city-owned park. However, new rules are coming into effect that will impact many different park users including dog owners. The city is adding 13 more parks where dogs will be allowed on-leash including Memorial Park Cemetery at the base of Dilworth Mountain.
“There is always demand to have more places for people to take their dogs and we are always looking for where can we allow that and where there are compatible uses, “ says the City of Kelowna’s Parks Services Manager Ian Wilson.
The changes will mean three quarters of all city-owned parks will now be dog-friendly. The city is also exploring the idea of creating an off-leash park at Poplar Point at the base of Knox Mountain where dogs would have access to the water. However, that will first require public consultation with area residents.
While the city is loosening up some regulations, it’s tightening other rules. One of those pertains to e-cigarettes
“So last year we were approached by Interior Health with regards to e-cigarettes or vaping and they were saying this is a new and emerging issue and would you consider to also add this to your parks bylaw,” says Wilson.
The city is complying and just like it did with tobacco a few years ago, it’s now banning e-cigarettes from all of its parks.
The restrictions, however, don’t end there. With drones becoming increasingly popular, the city is creating new regulations surrounding their use.
“We’re not saying no to drones, but we are saying we would like you to have a permit if you will operate a drone in parks,” says Wilson.
The radio controlled devices are often used by photographers but more and more people are using them recreationally prompting the city to take control for a variety of reasons.
“There’s been concerns around safety so if they fall out of the sky they could hurt people also privacy,’ says Wilson. “If there’s people sunbathing on the beach, people have raised concerns they don’t want to be filmed while out here sunbathing and the other issue has been noise.”
The final change being made at city-owned parks has to do with an increasingly popular outdoor activity called geocaching.
“It’s kind of like hide and seek where people hide little containers called caches and other people will use a global positioning system to find those containers and it’s been fairly popular in Kelowna. There are almost a thousand caches spread around the city,” says Wilson.
While the city is encouraging people to continue geocahcing in its parks, it has now compiled a list of geocaching rules such as where not to hide caches to prevent injury or damage to the environment. Proper labeling of the containers is also now being required.
“In one case someone thought it contained drugs, in another case someone else thought it was a bomb and called police,” says Wilson.
All the amendments to the Parks and Public Spaces bylaw will take effect next week after being given the official stamp of approval.
The parks that will permit dogs on-leash include: Bella Vista Park, Bellevue Creek Greenway, Crawford Multi-Use Court property, Dehart Park, Eagle View Trail, Gallagher Community Park, Gopher Creek Trail, Kelowna Memorial Park Cemetery, Mountainside park, Ponds Community Park, Stockley Open Space, and Surtees Property.
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