Kamloops city councillors have voted against bringing in a temporary spray park on one of the practice tennis courts at Riverside Park.

It was a proposal put forward by Councillor Mike O’Reilly, who was hoping to give families another option to cool down as the Riverside Park spray park would not be operational this summer.

“Certainly, this isn’t an ideal situation but this is a stop-gap measure that is going to provide cooling options for kids throughout Kamloops,” O’Reilly said Tuesday. “Also with the money that will be spent at $40,000, it is going to continually be used, this water park, as a community asset, that can be used from event to event.”

Parks and Civic Facilities Manager, Jeff Putnam, told council that $40,000 cost would include $20,000 to prep the site to ensure it has the necessary drainage infrastructure, and that amenities like garbage cans and benches are added.

It would cost $12,000 to buy just the spray toys with the remaining $8,000 meant to be a contingency fund.

“They’re about four feet tall and each one of them consumes about the equivalent water of one garden hose so it’s actually fairly sustainable,” he said, noting the spray toys could be used at other community events in the future. “We’re suggesting we’re going to buy five or six of them, just to show a bit of variety and animation.”

O’Reilly, Dale Bass, and Arjun Singh were the only councillors who voted in favour Tuesday with the rest essentially saying they felt the benefits did not outweigh the cost.

“You almost had me. Those spray toys are freaking cute but [I’m] of the same mind as my colleagues in terms of the timeframe being just too short,” Councillor Sadie Hunter said. “And I’m not sure about the ongoing use of it,” Hunter said.

“Kids go back to school in September, and like Councillor Sinclair said, just for that three week window that we may have for this, when it does get here, it doesn’t justify the $40,000 so I can’t support it,” Bill Sarai said.

Councillor Denis Walsh suggested that a hose that sprayed a fine mist would be sufficient if the City needed to add another option for people to cool down at Riverside Park.

“Anybody who’s been to an outdoor concert, they just use hoses and they have a little stem where they have a fine spray, people walk through that all day and love it,” he said. “We don’t need to spend $40,000 to just wet people.”

Mayor Ken Christian agreed saying that using the sprinkler system on the grass could be enough for kids to run through the water on hot days.

“The notion of let us turn the irrigation on and have the kids run through the sprinklers saves us $40,000 and allows kids both exercise and cooling,” he said.

“We have four spray parks in this town and it is a good idea if we were to have had this discussion in April. Having it at the end of July with an opening in late August doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Those four other water parks in Kamloops area at McDonald Park, Albert McGowan Park, Westsyde Centennial Park, and Prince Charles Park.