Town of Osoyoos Council voted on Monday to give final approval to a bylaw changing foreshore zoning to allow a 30-metre strata dock to be built at Paradise Park RV Resort on Solana Bay.

Mayor Sue McKortoff and members of Town of Osoyoos council recently made a site visit to get a close up view of the area of the proposed dock.

The visit followed third reading of the bylaw on June 15 and a public hearing on June 1.

Although a staff recommendation heard Monday called for council to revoke third reading of the bylaw and hold a second public hearing in light of competing public opinions, council instead opted to vote for adoption.

As Coun. Mike Campol observed, there appears to be some political differences on the strata, but it is not council’s role to get involved.

The proposed strata moorage facility would extend into Solana Bay to serve the Paradise Park RV Resort property, which is zoned as Recreational Vehicle Strata Resort and contains 69 leased lots, said Alain Cunningham, the town’s director of planning and development services.

The Paradise Park Leasees Association, represented by Randy North, informed council prior to the June 1 meeting that it is was seeking to build a new dock facility in Solana Bay fronting their RV park, located at 5901 Main Street.

A rezoning application is required under the Town of Osoyoos Foreshore and Lake Zoning Bylaw.

The dock would measure 30 metres in length and have four “side fingers” making up a total proposed dock surface of 96 square metres, said Cunningham.

It would be connected to shore by a ramp and would berth 10 boats. The strata also wish to retain 15 of their current 25 private buoys in that area, said Cunningham.

Solana Bay is within Crown tenure and provincial approval was required for changing the dock facility, he said.

Following a report prepared by Brian Jantz of Lakestream Environmental Services, the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources eventually granted preliminary approval for this project, but was subject to the town rezoning approval, said Cunningham.

The proposed moorage facility meets the requirements for a zoning application alteration in terms of length, width and setbacks, but the rezoning has to be made site specific to allow for a maximum of 15 buoys in addition to a dock at this particular location, he said.

At the annual general meeting of Paradise Park on April 25, a resolution was passed for them to enter into a 10-year strata moorage license with the province for their proposed works with 26 members voting yes and 10 opposed, he said.

After the recent public hearing, Coun. C. J. Rhodes said he had a couple of concerns about the dock proposal and he believes a site visit by mayor and council would be in order.

“This is the first application made for a dock on the lake in a long time … and personally for me, it’s very important that we get this right,” said Rhodes.

Building a 30-metre dock doesn’t sound like a major project, but he and fellow councillors would have a better idea of the size and scope once they participate in the site visit, said Rhodes.

Cunningham said he could easily arrange a site visit by members of council and he will make sure members of the Paradise Park Leasees Association and Jantz will attend the meeting to answer questions that might arise.

Coun. Carol Youngberg agreed that a site visit was needed because town council hasn’t had to deal with the issue of building a new dock in this community for many years.

(With files by Richard McGuire)

KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times