Lake Country mayor pushes to preserve Crown park

Some Lake Country residents want to see local governments maintain trails and deal with parking issues at a provincially-owned recreation area and the mayor is pushing to make that happen.

Spion Kop recreation area, currently crown land, is surrounded by private property but the hiking trails are getting a lot of traction.

Resident Vicki Jordan said the area used to be quiet but now it’s a trail-head that attracts a lot of visitors.

“It’s become a busy place and we love it that it’s here but there’s not the proper parking for it here and so it becomes quite congested, busy, noisy and not quite as peaceful as we thought,” Jordan said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's become a busy place and we love it that it's here but there's not the proper parking for it here and so it becomes quite congested, busy, noisy and not quite as peaceful as we thought," Jordan said.

Jordan said another issue is the trash being left behind by hikers, along with dog droppings.

Lake Country mayor James Baker says the municipality’s hands are tied because the province owns the land.

“We don’t have jurisdiction to put our crews in here or outside workers to do maintenance. We’d like to see some jurisdiction in some manner and the province isn’t doing it,” Baker said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We don't have jurisdiction to put our crews in here or outside workers to do maintenance. We'd like to see some jurisdiction in some manner and the province isn't doing it," Baker said.

Baker said he’d like to see the area become park land.

“Preferably as a regional park so the whole of central Okanagan uses it and the whole of central Okanagan would be paying for it, not just Lake Country and our maintenance crews.”

Baker has another priority: preventing development on the crown land so that the popular hiking trails and valley views remain public.

“We don’t know what the province might have in mind for Crown lands because their mandate at front counter is to get as much revenue from sales of Crown land as possible.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We don't know what the province might have in mind for Crown lands because their mandate at front counter is to get as much revenue from sales of Crown land as possible."

Some hikers on trails on Thursday spoke to Global Okanagan and seem to agree.

“In the big picture sense it’s wise to preserve as much as we can” Kelowna resident Jim Fisher said.

“Just leave it for everyone to enjoy it,” Elaine Todd, who is vacationing in Lake Country, said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Just leave it for everyone to enjoy it," Elaine Todd, who is vacationing in Lake Country, said.

For its part, the province said Spion Kop is currently under reserve for B.C. Parks and public recreation use, which means no development is allowed.

The Regional District of Central Okanagan said while acquiring the land is on the agenda and has been for at least six years, there is no word on the cost for the purchase of the 350 hectares of

Crown land or on the timeline of when an application to the province may be made.

But park supporters say creating a new regional park would make the area safer, cleaner and more convenient.