By Lexi McFarlane, Times Chronicle

The Town of Osoyoos will be drafting a joint-use agreement with School District 53 (SD53) for the year 2026, with some fresh input provided on sharing facilities. 

At the December 9 Committee of the Whole (CoW) meeting, Council received a presentation from Gerald Davis, Director of Community Services, on a potential reciprocal joint use agreement with the School District 53 (SD53) to share facilities in Osoyoos. 

The goal of this agreement would be to ensure facilities are available and being used at rates affordable to those in the community.

An agreement between SD53 and the town was never previously required as Osoyoos had ample recreational space and other facilities to provide sufficient delivery of programs and services. 

In recent years, however, the rise in demand from recreational sports groups, coupled with the closure of the Desert Park recreation centre significantly impacted available space. Recently, the Town of Osoyoos had to start turning to school rooms and gymnasiums to cover the gap in facilities for programs and services provided. 

A potential joint-use agreement could also include the Sun Bowl Arena among the facilities listed; however, the options presented to Council that include SBA would also require one of either Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) approval, or a revision to the Town’s Fees and Charges Bylaw.

Currently, without an agreement, it costs the Town between $3,500 and $5,000 annually to use local schools for given functions, including recreational activities, lunch programs, and assemblies. Most municipalities in British Columbia have a joint-use agreement with their school districts to share the facilities. 

The Town had previously created a draft agreement with School District 53, however it was not ratified at the time. 

Mayor Sue McKortoff suggested turning to the Town of Oliver, and their recent joint-use agreement with schools, to help guide the process.

“Are there any good ideas that they’ve included in there that you haven’t thought of?” McKortoff asked. 

Councillor Zach Poturica wanted to know what emergency-use provisions, if any, were included in the draft joint-use agreement. 

“(For example), if there’s an emergency in the school, in which they’d need you to evacuate, or try to find an alternative facility in short order, or after-hours, to accommodate something,” Poturica explained.

Davis said that, while it wasn’t yet included in the draft, emergency provisions could be arranged to mitigate impacts on the community groups using the facilities.

“They would be anyway, but having that as a guaranteed part of their emergency planning; that would be a welcome thing for sure.”

Councillor Johnny Cheong said it could be to the benefit of the agreement to include more provisions for recreational sports groups, such as for pickleball. 

“Is there a possibility where we can use their gymnasium as well, to open up more pickleball courts, in lieu of reduced rates at Sun Bowl Arena?” Cheong said. 

“Yes, we could use that for pickleball, or for anything else; badminton, pop darts. But that would be a great (feature),” Davis said. “And that would be the expectation, that we would use the facility for our programming purposes as well.”

One additional note, clarified by Councillor Jim King, is that non-profit user groups of the facilities would still have the right to come to Council, and request that the fees for use of the facilities be waived. 

No vote was necessary at this meeting, as it was only Council offering input on the proposed agreement. The agreement, once it reaches a final draft stage, will be presented to Council at a later date.