Town of Osoyoos council approved on Monday beginning the Requests for Proposal (RFP) process to build a new Wibit inflatable water park at Legion Beach. (Photo Supplied).
After a survey of local residents showed overwhelmingly strong support for a Wibit inflatable water park in Osoyoos, Town of Osoyoos council has moved ahead with a Request for Proposals to have a new park built at Legion Beach.
Council voted unanimously in favour of a staff recommendation to move forward with the Wibit park RFP process after 80 per cent of respondents were “strongly supportive” of the concept during a recent survey.
“Over the past few months, the Town has received a few inquiries from business operators who are interested in establishing a Wibit inflatable water park in Osoyoos,” said senior town planner Dilys Huang, during a presentation to council Monday afternoon.
During a meeting in early October, council narrowed the list of potential locations for the park to Legion Beach and Cottonwood Park, she said.
“Prior to making a decision, planning and development services was directed to undertake some level of community consultation,” she said. “Therefore, staff prepared a survey questionnaire via SurveyMonkey and hard copies were also made available in order to gather community feedback.”
Following a discussion and review of survey results at an in-camera meeting held early Monday, council made a motion to release the survey results to the public.
Based on the responses, it appears the majority of respondents (239 online responses and 10 hard copy), the majority are either supportive or strongly supportive (79.4 per cent) of having a Wibit park in town, said Huang.
Less than 14 per cent were not supportive of the idea.
Just under 37 per cent favoured the proposed Legion Beach location as opposed to 31 per cent who favoured Cottonwood Park, while 27 per cent had no preference.
There were 11 respondents who suggested Gyro Park as the most ideal location, but council has made it very clear they did not want the town’s main public attraction to be considered for this park.
The majority of survey respondents are currently residing in Osoyoos and the surrounding Electoral A in the Regional District, said Huang.
“In summary, respondents offered a diverse range of (although sometimes competing) comments,” said Huang. “Reasons given for preferring Legion Beach over Cottonwood Drive include better accessibility to downtown and the Osoyoos Splash Park, calmer waters in the bay, deeper water depths from a safety perspective, more green space for families and picnics, not being close to a pub and not impeding with weddings that take place at the latter.
“On the other hand, some of the reasons given for favouring Cottonwood Park over Legion Beach include closer access to accommodations and food services, better parking, cleaner water, easier supervision for parents due to shallower water depths, keeping the latter location is a quieter dog beach area and the presence of an existing splash park at the latter.”
Parking and traffic concerns seem to be common for both locations and respondents have also mentioned ensuring a Wibit water park remains affordable to users, including families, she said.
A Wibit water park would be another asset for the Town of Osoyoos as it would be an additional attraction for visitors and local residents, she said.
“However, both advantages and disadvantages should be considered by council,” she said.
Now that council has approved moving ahead with the RFP process, staff and the town’s Waterfront Steering Committee will work on preparing the RFP document, including a set of evaluation criteria such as experience of company and management staff, mitigation of environmental impacts, safety and security measures and financial (lease value to the town), she said.
Since an application would need to be submitted to the Province for converting a specific water area to commercial use to accommodate a Wibit water park, the successful proponent should be responsible for the commercial Crown lease charge and any BC Assessment taxes, said Huang.
The Town should also establish a lease rate for the use of municipal land, she said.
One of the interested business operators has already expressed an interest to open the Wibit Park before the summer of 2017 begins next June, but the timing would be dependent on various factors, including the preparation of an RFP, obtaining licences from the Province and the outcome of the water rezoning process, she said.
Once the RFP process is completed, the successful proponent would also be required to receive authorization from the Province, including approval under the Water Sustainability Act, she said.
Mayor Sue McKortoff and members of council had access to every single survey response as part of this process.
Town of Osoyoos council approved on Monday beginning the Requests for Proposal (RFP) process to build a new Wibit inflatable water park at Legion Beach. (Photo Supplied).
