A conceptual drawing shows the proposed pier, dock and beach area at Gyro Park. (Town of Osoyoos)
The proposed new pier for Osoyoos Lake has the opportunity to be “iconic” if done right.
Those words from Ed Grifone, a senior consultant and partner with Kelowna-based CTQ Consultants, who showed off a concept plan for the proposed new Gyro Beach Pier during a public input session held early last week at the Sonora Community Centre.
“If done well, and I have no doubt it will be, this pier can be iconic in my opinion,” said Grifone. “Not only will it be located at the end of a beautiful city park, but it will be able to be viewed by everyone looking towards the lake from Main Street.
“There simply won’t be many piers in Canada that will be able to match it in terms of functionality as well as aesthetic beauty.”
The town’s waterfront steering committee approved hiring a consulting company to come up with a detailed plan to erect a new pier for Osoyoos Lake that would be accessible from the new and improved Gyro Park.
A group of 16 local residents attended last week’s public input session to ask questions, provide ideas, fill out a survey and listen to what Grifone had to say about the pier.
The plan now is to review the information gathered at the meeting and come back with detailed engineering drawings for the pier, said Grifone.
The size and scope of the project will be approved by council, with a tentative plan to have it built in the spring of 2017, he said.
The pricetag “could range anywhere from $500,000 to under $1 million, depending on what council wants to see and is willing to approve,” he said.
The project could proceed in different phases over two or three years if adequate funding sources can’t be found, he said.
“The preference would be to build the main bulk of the project during the first phase … but there would be an option to add on during different phases spread out over a longer time period,” he said.
After the public input session, Grifone said one message made very clear to him and his company is that local residents “want this project done right” and that means spending the appropriate amount of money to ensure the pier can handle the blazing hot Osoyoos heat for decades to come, he said.
The size of the proposed pier detailed at the public meeting would stretch just under 60 metres in length by five metres wide and would be anchored into the lake by steel pilings.
The surface would be made of wood or composite material and feature a gazebo-like structure near the water. There would also be day-use boat moorage on the lake side, for pleasure boats and possibly water taxis from the popular and busy Nk’ Mip RV Resort across the lake.
There are also plans to erect a water park and swimming area for children and families and to provide wheelchair accessibility to the water, said Grifone.
If the pier extends south into the lake, it would be clearly visible looking east from Main Street, which was something that appealed to many people at the meeting, he said.
The pier would connect to the rest of Gyro Park through a walkway that would run around the volleyball courts and the bowling green at the Osoyoos Lawn Bowling Club, he said.
Grifone said CTQ will continue to refine the design based in large part from recommendations made from last week’s meeting.
He expects to present a much more detailed design drawing to present to town council within several months.
Alain Cunningham, the town’s director of planning and development, said the plans from the town’s perspective would be to have detailed drawings completed by the end of 2016 and construction to begin in early 2017.
Funding to pay for the pier would come from the annual resort municipalities funding program, said Cunningham.
Osoyoos is one of 14 municipalities that receive such funding, aimed at increasing resort and visitor activities and amenities. This year the town’s allocation from the fund was about $400,000.
The “basic structure” for a large pier like this would be roughly $500,000, he said.
Added amenities like handrails, the water park and accessibility features would have to be costed out separately to get the most bang for the buck, he said.
The waterfront steering committee that was formed in 2012 made it clear upgrades to Gyro Park were the top priority for the community’s waterfront and those were completed over the past two years, said Cunningham.
“The second priority was building a new pier for Osoyoos Lake and that’s what this project is all about,” he said.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
