Concerned residents spoke for almost a half hour yesterday at Kamloops council about a pilot project for commercial activity at Riverside Park.
Following that, after a lengthy discussion, council voted 7-2 to allow a bylaw amendment for commercial use in the park. Councillors Arjun Singh and Denis Walsh were the dissending votes.
Singh says people with concerns were not properly consulted before yesterday’s meeting, saying it was a “misstep” to pass the plan as it stood.
“Riverside Park is an electric wire in Kamloops politics. It always has been. But if we spend some time with this, a couple more weeks, to get the sort of t’s crossed, i’s dotted, I think we’ll be in a lot better place. It’ll have more opportunity to get more folks potentially for it,” Singh says.
“I think the fact we haven’t consulted those folks who actually have (opposing views) is problematic. I’d like to have COVID projects unite the community, not divide the community. And I feel this has divided the community along the normal fault lines we’ve seen around Ajax, around hotels in the park, or other issues that kind of come up.”
Walsh had made a motion asking to defer a vote allowing commercial use in the park until the next council meeting, but it did not pass. Walsh had said the idea was rushed through committee and “never followed proper procedures” before coming to yesterday’s council meeting.
It’s expected that food trucks and vendors for recreational activities will take up space around the concession, before that building will be demolished this fall. But it’s not clear exactly what businesses plan to move in, nor how many businesses can occupy the space at one time.
Many councillors voiced concerns to city staff yesterday about those details and others that were not in the report, where staff recommended the pilot project be approved.
Business operations and events supervisor Kevin Smith answered concerns about which businesses will or will not be allowed to take part, as longstanding businesses were excluded from the report.
“It will be open to any business opportunities,” Smith affirmed. “As has been noted, we’ve been on a short timeline. Haven’t had too much time to put an in-depth report together. It is a work-in-progress document to some degree. But there would certainly be appetite to be all-encompassing for all business operators in Kamloops.”
Smith was also asked whether motorized watersports will be allowed the park, as the report makes no mention, but he says that issue had not been discussed. “If the desire is there to not have motorized watercraft… I think we could work without the personalized watercraft, yes,” Smith says, adding no watercraft would be allowed in the roped-off swimming area.
The pilot project is expected to start in late-June, and last through the summer.
Tourism Kamloops CEO Bev DeSantis says this will provide an opportunity to use an existing footprint of the park, at the concession area, to try and promote further activity. “We have been working with (the city) on how we can enhance that space on a pilot project and just see without any build or development how we can really energize that space for both our community and for visitors.”
