After years in the making, a milestone occasion was observed in the North Okanagan on Friday as a section of what will be a 51-kilometre rail trail connecting Armstrong and Sicamous officially opened.
“It’s going to increase tourism and economic opportunities,” said Kukpi7 Mike Christian, chief of Splatsin First Nation.
The celebration officially opened a two-kilometre stretch of rail trail running through Enderby.
But the grand opening also had a large presence from the local farming community as dozens of farmers staged a protest over land access concerns.
The former CP Rail corridor was purchased by Splatsin First Nation, Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO) and the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD), which intend to use permits to ensure access but it’s not sitting well with impacted residents — many of them farmers.
“It is temporary. It is a permission slip. The bylaw can be changed. It can be revoked,” said Jeanette Netzel, who owns farmland north of Armstrong.
Once complete, she and husband Ken Netzel will have to cross the rail trail into their property.
They are among the farmers calling for registered easements to ensure access and not permits.
“When they said they were only going to give us permits and not easements, I said, ‘Well, if I’m going to accept a permit, how about … you give me a million dollars with it?’ and they said, ‘Well, why?’ and I said, ‘Well, you probably just took off a million dollars of the price of this farm,'” Ken Netzel said.
However, the municipal bodies that now own the land said legally it makes more sense to have permit access looking ahead at the future.
“I think it’s in the best interest of the 150,000 people who own the trail, the taxpayers to not have permanent encumbrances,” said Kevin Flynn, CSRD board chair. “We don’t know what this trail could become down the road.”
When CP Rail owned the land, statutory laws guaranteed access, something property owners are now uneasy about as they don’t feel the permits are as set in stone.
“They may choose to say that you’re restricted to access only between such and such hours. We don’t know that. There is no guarantee,” said Jeanette Netzel.
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But Christian disagreed.
“No, that will never happen. That has never happened,” Christian said. “Permits are intended to be in perpetuity, forever.”
There are some 170 properties along what will be the new rail trail between Armstrong and Sicamous. Some are next to the trail and not directly impacted by access concerns, so it’s not known how many are actually affected by the permits.
Jeanette Netzel said she’s not against the rail trail but wants to see easements put in place.
“Everybody wants the rail trail all the way from the federal government right down here to us but what is missing is the information and the conditions on the construction of the trail and that is so important,” Netzel said.
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