Peachland residents happy with life, but want better sidewalks

No money for sidewalks

Photo: District of Peachland

Okanagan Lake

Two civic improvements Peachlanders most want to see may be the hardest to get.

The results of Peachland’s annual civic survey are in, and they showed residents want better sidewalks as well as safety improvements along Highway 97.

“Unfortunately for us, that’s provincial,” said Mayor Patrick Van Minsel at Tuesday’s council meeting about the highway. “But we did succeed in the last few years to get some things done. Now, they’re doing the Trepanier Bench intersection. There is some movement on that.”

Last fall, the province announced improvements would proceed at three intersections in Peachland.

Sidewalks are expensive.

“We know it’s important, but they’re very expensive,” the mayor said.

Most sidewalks are put in by developers when new projects are built.

Sidewalks for Princeton Avenue would cost millions of dollars, Van Minsel said.

“And we don’t have that money, so we decided to increase safety by putting up concrete barriers for the time being and when we have enough money in our kitty, we will look at sidewalks, but for the moment, it’s just too expensive for this town.”

Ninety per cent of respondents said their quality of life was good or very good. Peachland’s top asset was its small-town character, respondents said, with the waterfront and lake coming in second.

About municipal services, Peachlanders said they were most satisfied with garbage collection, the Beach Avenue walkway, recycling and yard-waste collection, and fire protection.

They were least satisfied with sidewalks, weed control, transit, planning and police enforcement.

Top cops from the West Kelowna detachment have told council in recent meetings the RCMP is increasing its presence in Peachland.

Residents cited safety and mobility, growth and development, infrastructure, tax fairness, protecting environmentally sensitive areas and preserving agricultural land as important issues.

Least important issues were higher density downtown, providing more parkland and trails, and mitigating impacts of climate change.

Residents supported downtown revitalization, FireSmart and sewer extension initiatives. They had less enthusiasm for creating more dog parks. Peachland opened a new dog park in May.

Canada Day celebrations are the residents’ favourite event, followed by the Christmas light-up and Remembrance Day ceremonies.

A total of 417 surveys were completed between Nov. 10 and Dec. 5. More than 85 per cent of respondents were over the age of 55. No one under 19 filled out a survey, and few under 35 did.

“We are listening,” said Van Minsel. “We keep those comments of our residents close to our heart.”