Town of Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff was the guest speaker at the Osoyoos Rotary Club’s weekly luncheon last week. McKortoff spoke about key concerns facing town council in the coming months, including the Osoyoos Airport, Desert Park and the proposed large cellphone tower application by Rogers. McKortoff is seen here with Rotary Club president elect Marieze Tarr. (Keith Lacey photo)
Just when it looked like the province might pull its Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI) funding to tourist towns like Osoyoos, the provincial government has announced the program will be extended until 2017 and hopefully beyond, says Town of Osoyoos Mayor Sue McKortoff.
As the special guest speaker at the weekly luncheon meeting of the Osoyoos Rotary Club, McKortoff announced the provincial government will extend RMI funding until at least 2017 and this is great news for the community and local residents, she said.
“Resort municipality funding had been extended to 2015 and 2016, but many of us thought that might be the end,” said McKortoff. “We (municipal leaders) got in touch with the powers that be … and I’m glad to say resort municipality funding will continue until December of 2017 for sure. We’re really pleased with that.”
McKortoff spent the remainder of her presentation updating Rotarians about the status of several “hot button issues” that she and the other members of town council are dealing with.
Since announcing back in November that town council was considering closing down the Osoyoos Airport and using the land to increase the town’s industrial base, there has been plenty of talk in town about the future of the airport, said McKortoff.
“We’re certainly looking at it (airport),” said McKortoff. “The job of council is not to go one way or the other on important decisions like this, but to find a compromise, get all the information and make a decision that’s best for the town.”
The Osoyoos Airport Development Society, which features several prominent business leaders, has urged council not to shut down the airport and allow them to develop a detailed business plan that could result in the airport being upgraded and modernized.
The current airport doesn’t have any amenities and there isn’t a lot of airplane traffic, she said.
Town council is going to continue gathering information before any final decision is made about the future of Osoyoos Airport and that decision won’t be forthcoming any time soon, she said.
“We’re certainly not going to be doing anything quickly,” she said, acknowledging repurposing Osoyoos Airport lands would mean this community would never have an airport again, said McKortoff.
Another local facility that is in dire need of upgrades will be getting support from town council in the coming weeks, said McKortoff.
The grandstand at the Desert Park horse racing facility is in need of upgrading and town council decided at recent budget meetings to donate money to try and repair that building, she said.
“During budget talks, we decided there will be some money put aside for Desert Park,” she said. “We have to decide how much money.”
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) board has also agreed to get involved in helping upgrade the Desert Park facility, she said.
Town council and staff are currently finalizing negotiations to determine if the town will pay for the grandstand upgrade or share it with the RDOS or take on this project alone and have the RDOS board pay for future upgrades at Desert Park, she said.
McKortoff also confirmed that management with Rogers Communications has agreed to hold a public hearing in Osoyoos relating to their proposal to Industry Canada to build a 35-metre (115-foot) cellphone tower in vineyard land near 112nd Avenue and 100th Street on RDOS land just east of the Shell station on Hwy. 97 on the north side of town.
Town hall has received numerous complaints about this proposal and Rogers management has committed to holding the public meeting to answer questions and address concerns likely in late March or early April, she said.
The time and place will be well advertised, she said.
Finally, McKortoff briefly discussed the recent decision by BC Parks to turn management of Haynes Point Provincial Park to the Osoyoos Indian Band.
Because this land isn’t owned by the town, there’s not much council can do about the park, but McKortoff said she’s happy three key issues have been addressed.
“We wanted it to remain open for people to walk in the park … we wanted it to stay a campground and the OIB has proven itself to be very good at running campgrounds and we wanted the boat launch to stay open and that will also happen,” she said.
Overall, she has loved her three months on the job as mayor and is really looking forward to working with the new council “This is an excellent group of councillors I’m working with and I think the town, quite frankly, is very lucky to have a group like this. “I think we’re going to have a good four years ahead of us.”
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
