Council still behind slides

Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

Penticton Mayor Andrew Jakubeit says he "wanted to give everyone a night to sleep on what transpired Monday," following opposing rallies that converged on City Hall over development at Skaha Marina.

"Today, I canvassed council to gauge any interest in revisiting the Skaha Water Park initiative. Council was united in their support to continue forward with the Trio Marine Group, Jakubeit said in a media release.

The well-attended rallies for and against the marina development filled the street outside City Hall, and protesters flooded into council chambers and its overflow room, prior to the meeting.

When council walked in, they were greeted with chants of "This Land is Your Land," a famous folk song by Woody Guthrie.

Several grew angry when told the item was not on council's agenda, and the meeting was subsequently recessed.

When protesters stayed on, Penticton RCMP Cpl. Don Wrigglesworth assisted in clearing the room.

"We took notice of citizens wanting to engage with what direction the city is choosing to take," said the mayor. "We were disheartened that passion, from some, took a turn sideways and impacted our formal council proceedings.

"Everyone has a right to their opinion and should feel safe to voice it and be respected for having an opinion or showing an interest. Last night, I felt democracy took a back seat and we didn’t have civilized or respectful dialogue."

Jakubeit said the city needs to "continue providing more information and answers to people's questions or concerns."

"Good public policy isn’t based on who shows up at the front door," he said. "Just because council didn’t vote the way a person wanted them to vote … doesn’t mean their voice, concern or comment wasn’t heard. We were elected by the people to make tough decisions, and no matter what decision we make, often someone is unhappy." 

He said council's decision to turn part of Skaha Park into a water park was based on what council felt would provide benefit for the community and align with a strategic priority of waterfront enhancement.

"Yesterday alone I had 39 emails related to Skaha Water park – 27 were in support, 12 opposed. That's an illustration of some of the feedback and comments council has been getting regarding this proposal from both traditional and non-traditional mediums."

On Monday, those in opposition were urged by rally organizer Clifford Martin and others to sign a petition for a binding referendum to cancel the Skaha Park lease.

Martin said he plans to take the signed petitions to council's next meeting.