PENTICTON, B.C. – A protest over commercial development planned at Skaha Lake Park has turned into a call for Penticton’s mayor and council to step down.
A new group called Penticton Citizens First held a rally at Gyro Park Tuesday afternoon amid concern over how elected officials in the south Okanagan city have handled a development proposal for Skaha Lake Park.
Hundreds of concerned Penticton residents attended the protest.
“We’ve got two more years of this mayor and council and we don’t know what they have on their agenda,” said rally participant Cliff Martin. “It seems like they had an agenda right from election day. Some people call them a rogue mayor and council. I’m not sure about that. We’ve got to let them know that the public is not going to let them do whatever they want to do.”
The group formed alongside the Save Skaha Park Society following a year of protests, petitions and rallies.
They are opposed to council’s deal with a developer to use city park space for commercial purposes.
“Everybody here is hopeful we can stop this,” said concerned Penticton resident Bob Ferguson. “It’s taken over a hundred years to get these parks that we have. They’re beautiful parks and they should stay parks.”
The Save Skaha Park Society website states residents’ opposition to a city decision last year, a decision they believe was not transparent.
“On August 4th 2015, the City of Penticton signed a 29 year agreement, with an option for two 5 year extensions, to lease part of the waterfront park space at Skaha Park to the Trio Group for them to build a water park.”
Nelson Meikle is suing the city over their decision to lease part of Skaha Lake Park to the Trio Group.
Meikle is hoping the city reverses their decision Wednesday.
“I hope tomorrow it’s over with and they withdraw the stuff and it’s as simple as that,” said Meikle. “It could be done with a letter to me and I’ll put everything off and not move forward until the thirtieth day of December when they have to sign another further extension or deal.”
If the city doesn’t withdraw, Meikle plans to continue with his lawsuit both against the city and Trio.