West Kelowna doesn’t have enough land, and that’s hampering efforts to build new recreation facilities, city hall, and more.

“Land is a big challenge,” Mayor Doug Findlater told members of the Greater Westside Board of Trade at a state of the city address, Thursday.

Speaking to the crowd at the Cove Lakeside Resort, Findlater said a lack of appropriate places to put new buildings in West Kelowna is causing problems.

He pointed to the new soccer dome the city would like to build. West Kelowna has support from a provincial soccer association to build the structure, but, since there isn’t really any place to put it, the project has become “a lot more complex.”

Then there’s the dream of an entire sports complex, or, the new city hall that will in all likelihood eventually be built — where would they go?

Findlater said to deal with the problem, the city is looking at a land management plan that will include strategies for acquiring more land, but also selling land the city already owns.

Nothing is even close to being decided, and more research will need to be done before anything moves forward, but Findlater twice raised the possibility that some city parks might end up getting sold.

He pointed out that most every economic indicator in the city is going up, including population, the number of business licences issued, construction activity and housing starts.

There were also a record-breaking number of single family homebuilding permits issued in 2016, “and all signs point to an even better year in 2017.”

Photo: Robin Jones