Shelter or no shelter?
Vernon council debated for nearly 30 minutes Monday the merits of including a picnic shelter in the proposed Hurlburt Park design for the old Camp Hurlburt space on Okanagan Lake.
Coun. Brian Quiring expressed concern about the proximity of the planned shelter to a private residence that neighbours the park.
“It’s a big park, and there’s a lot of lakefront there,” said Quiring. “We’re going to actually consolidate most of the amenity space right next to an existing house. The only reason we’re doing that is because there’s a foundation there (existing dining hall at the camp). If there was no foundation, there would be no picnic shelter. We’re trying to take advantage of something there that’s existing. I just have a concern we’ll consolidate all the people next to this neighbour’s house.”
Parks planner Susan Abbott said the proposed shelter is on the only available flat surface of the land. Moving it to higher ground would require constructing retaining walls. Moving it lower runs the risk of flooding.
Mayor Akbal Mund said the park is planned to be closed at night, reducing noise concerns.
“You can’t be there overnight. There’s no trailers; no camping; there used to be hundreds of (campers) there. The use is different than it used to be. I think the concerns would have been tenfold if 100 people are using the facility on a nightly basis during summer. I don’t think it’s a bad idea. The noise going to be there in the daylight hours.”
Coun. Scott Anderson said it’s not a nighttime vs daytime matter. It’s the noise and disruption that the neighbour will face.
“It’s a different type of disruption, quite a bit louder than meal time at a camp,” said Anderson.
Coun. Juliette Cunningham said the location is an “ideal spot to create an amenity for the community.
“It’s for the good of the community, and I think the impact has been exaggerated,” said Cunningham. “If there is such a significant impact, we do have other ways to deal with it in the future. It’s not like we can never address it.
“People are going to be using that park. It’s for families. We put all this time and effort into this. It’s a real gem. I just wish everyone would see it would be a benefit for the community.”
After getting assurances from Abbott that significant landscape buffering could be added to the design to mitigate noise, council voted unanimously to accept the park’s preliminary plan (Coun. Catherine Lord was absent from the meeting).
RELATED: City unveils Hurlburt Park plan
Along with the shelter, changes to the plan authorized by council include providing additional signage prohibiting trailers; relocating the park gates; accommodating a non-motorized watercraft drop-off space and adding a gravel path leading to the dock boaters, and south to the lake access for dog owners.
The Hurlburt Park preliminary plan and conceptual images illustrating the proposed improvements were presented to the public at an open house March 7.
A total of 248 people were recorded as being made directly aware of the project improvements. The open house was attended by 28 people, and 10 people completed surveys. Engage Vernon received 127 visits, of which 97 visited at least one page, 54 downloaded photos, documents or other references, and 13 completed the online survey.
At Trinity United Church, the former owners of the property, 93 parishioners viewed the plans and conceptual images, asked questions, shared stories and gave positive feedback.
Over the course of the two-week feedback period, five e-mails and two telephone calls were received, and one visit was made to the community services building to speak with staff.
Council directed administration to proceed with the detailed design, working towards tendering the project in early summer with construction to begin in the late summer and fall 2018.
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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