Road sweeping on Highway 97 through Peachland will slow traffic starting Friday night

Hwy 97 road cleaning

Photo: File photo

Road sweeping planned between Trepanier Bench Rd and Seclusion Bay Rd for 4.1 km through Peachland this weekend

Travellers heading through Peachland on Highway 97 are advised to watch out for road sweepers this weekend.

DriveBC said road sweeping is planned between Trepanier Bench Road and Seclusion Bay Road for 4.1 km. throughout the night.

The work starts on Friday night and is expected to last until Sunday. The work runs from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Drivers are asked to slow down and move over. Watch for flashing lights.

Peachland council shoots down secondary suite policy

Council hung up on policy

Photo: District of Peachland

Peachland council has shot down a proposed secondary suite policy.

A second attempt to revise Peachland’s secondary suite policy has been shot down.

In February, planning staff presented council with language to add flex units to the policy.

Flex units are small secondary suites Peachland has been requiring in some new developments, although none have been built yet.

Councillors were unhappy with wording about grandfathering existing suites, that banned second kitchens – and questioned whether flex units will help resolve the housing shortage at all.

“I have a few things here that I think were missed,” said Mayor Patrick Van Minsel on Tuesday as the plan was presented again. “We did decide as a council that you had to look at summer kitchens and to allow them.”

The language to allow grandfathering of older suites that were legal when they were built doesn’t apply in Peachland, Coun. David Collins said.

“Right up to 2017, it was ambiguous as to whether a permit was even required …. and we wound up with hundreds of suites non-conforming,” he said. “Now people who want to bring them on board are getting stuck with fairly large bills to upgrade them."

Collins and Van Minsel both said they’d been inundated with emails from residents concerned about costs of legalizing their suites.

“One of the most frustrating things as a councillor is to constantly get emails from residents saying how difficult and onerous it is to legalize a suite,” Collins said.

“It’s having the opposite effect,” he said of the proposed policy. “People are going I’m either not even going to dare approach the district to licence my suite or I’m just going to stop doing this.”

Planning director Darin Schaal didn’t make much headway with his explanation that the policy is not creating new regulations, just stating how existing regulations are enforced.

“This is a policy document and it’s simply intended not to regulate but to provide some guidance to staff and the public in terms how we manage suite processes,” he said.

Councillors said flex suites should have their own policy.

Council voted to defer the proposed policy. It may be months before it comes up again.

Scarecrows will make return to Peachland fall fair

Scarecrows return to fall fair

Photo: District of Peachland

Plans are coming together for Peachland's fall fair

Peachland’s scarecrow festival is returning as part of the annual fall fair.

The 106th edition of the fair, set for Sept. 6-7, is also adding zucchini races to lineup.

Peachland hosted a scarecrow festival from 2016-18. Declining entries and vandalism problems helped kill the event.

The new version will be a scaled-down model, Daniela Evans, fall fair society vice-president, told council on Tuesday.

“We’re going to run the Zucchini 500 races. We’re going to offer an opportunity for vehicles to be made from zucchinis and to race them down a track. We’re currently designing the event, which will be held on Sunday,” she said.

“We’d also like to bring back a smaller version of the scarecrow competition – invite businesses and community groups to create a scarecrow ... to use these as decorations for our fair.”

The mayor was happy to see scarecrows returning.

“The scarecrow competition that you’re going bring back is great. I was part of the first one, the second one, and we had to stop for reasons. I think it’s a very good addition to the fall fair,” said Patrick Van Minsel.

The society has 35 volunteers planning the fair, which features new events and categories every year, Evans said.

The 2024 fair had more than 798 entries, she said.

The theme this year is “Plant a Seed,” which Evans said was inspired by two young entrants, aged 3 and 6, from last year’s fair.

The event will include live music, face painting and photos with exotic animals,

The Peachland Library will host a Plant a Seed-themed event on May 3, she said. All students at Peachland Elementary will be provided with free seeds from the library and West Coast Seeds. Organizers will hold a raffle, appear at the farmers’ market and will have a float in the Canada Day parade.

The Peachland Riding Club will put on the Fall Fair Ranch Horse Classic on the same weekend. The two groups will support and promote each others’ events, Evans said.

The fair brochure with entry details will be available soon all over Peachland and West Kelowna, she said.

There will be more pies than ever for eating, supplied by Just Pies in Penticton, Evans said.

Coun. David Collins wanted organizers to create a rule that the baker of the winning competition pie be required to produce pies for eating at the following year’s event.

Debit and credit cards will be accepted this year.

Province waits on federal election before supporting Peachland sewer upgrades

Sewer on province's radar

Photo: District of Peachland

Coun. David Collins (left) and Peachland mayor Patrick Van Minsel (right) meeting with Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma.

Provincial support for local infrastructure projects is on hold until after the federal election, Peachland politicians have learned.

Mayor Patrick Van Minsel and Coun. David Collins recently went to Victoria to lobby provincial cabinet ministers on a variety of issues.

Last week, they also met with Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Ravi Kahlon.

An expanded sewer system is at the top of Peachland’s priority list.

“We touched on that we have now a sewer master plan, and they were very happy that we have that because that was an impediment in the previous request for money,” Van Minsel said.

“The answer from our minister, Ravi Kahlon, was they’re waiting for the federal election to happen to know which government they will be working with,” he said.

Peachland has received letters of support for its funding bid from West Kelowna, the Okanagan Basin Water Board, Westbank First Nation and Ministry of Environment and Parks.

“Currently 55 per cent of the community is still on aging septic systems, which are projected to fail within the next five years. These failures could result in potential impacts to the environment, both within nearby streams and ultimately Okanagan Lake, as well as impacts to human health," wrote Kathryn Forge, assistant deputy minister, in the ministry’s letter.

"Expanding the sewer system is essential to protecting the environment and ensuring public health and safety.”

Peachland has some funding in place for the project. The water board has made a financial commitment, Van Minsel said. “That helps our case. We have put Peachland on the map.”

Climate change scepticism alive and well in Peachland

Climate scepticism common

Photo: Colin Dacre

Peachland

Sixty-nine of 257 Peachland residents who answered a survey about climate change don’t believe human-caused climate change is real.

The Peachland Climate Change Task Force surveyed the community about its views on climate change. Because of the small number of responses, the survey is not considered statistically valid, Coun. Rick Ingram told council on Tuesday. Sixty-three responses from outside Peachland were not counted.

“Our takeaway from the survey is that there is strong support for both personal and district actions to both help reduce our climate pollution and prepare for the impacts of climate change,” the task force said in a written introduction to the results.

Asked whether Peachland residents should take their own action to reduce climate pollution, 135 respondents agreed or strongly agreed with 85 opposed.

Asked what actions they were willing to take, 170 answered recycling and composting, 136 said they’d support local natural-area rehabilitation and 133 were willing to switch to energy-efficient appliances and LED light bulbs.

The vote was close on whether the municipality should act to reduce climate change with 123 saying yes and 105 against the idea.

But more respondents supported specific ideas with 145 saying Peachland should enhance recycling and compost programs, 143 saying streetlights should be replaced with LED bulbs, and 139 supporting expansion of green spaces and more tree planting.

A total of 140 respondents said they should prepare for the effects of climate change at home. Eighty-two said they shouldn’t. FireSmarting properties and making evacuation plans were the top actions residents said they could take.

Next steps in the process are focus group discussions in May and an open house in June, Coun. Rick Ingram said.

Photo: District of Peachland

Results of a survey completed in Peachland.

Crews dealing with gas leak downtown Peachland

Crews dealing with gas leak

Photo: District of Peachland

UPDATE 12:05 p.m.

FortisBC says a gas leak in Peachland was caused by "external party damage.”

“Crews are onsite making the necessary repairs. We anticipate two customer outages as a result but don’t yet have a time on when repairs will be complete,” said a FortisBC spokesperson.

FortisBC says April is safe digging month. The public is reminded to always contact BC 1 Call before digging to gather information on the location of buried gas lines and other utilities.

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ORIGINAL 11:15 a.m.

Firefighters and crews with FortisBC are dealing with a gas leak between 5th and 6th Street in downtown Peachland.

A caller to Castanet’s newsroom says drivers are being directed away from the area.

“Motorists may experience traffic disruptions in the area and on Beach Avenue due to the emergency incident,” said the municipality on social media.

The leak is happening in the area of a construction site for a seniors housing development.

The public is asked to avoid the area if possible.

Peachland mayor, councillor lobbies province for sewer funding

Lobbying for sewer funding

Photo: District of Peachland

Coun. David Collins (left) and Peachland mayor Patrick Van Minsel (right) meeting with Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma.

Eight provincial cabinet ministers got an earful about Peachland issues when Mayor Patrick Van Minsel and Coun. David Collins visited the legislature last week.

The two council members’ top priority was to push for provincial funding to expand the sewer system.

While several ministers supported Peachland’s bid for extra funding, they weren’t the ones who can open up the purse strings. A cabinet minister who might have some influence there is housing and municipal affairs minister Ravi Kahlon, who Van Minsel will meet with on April 15.

The mayor plans to present a full written report on the Victoria trip, but was waiting for more feedback from the province before finalizing it. He and Collins gave some verbal impressions on Tuesday.

“We started off with the ministry of environment,” said Collins. “The strategy there was to get a letter of endorsement to help with sewer funding. And to impress that it is not something that can be let go for 10, 20 more years — that it’s urgent, especially when you have septic fields failing."

“They satisfied that request,” said Collins. “They don’t have any funding themselves unless it’s an emergency environmental situation.”

The Peachlanders also met with Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma.

“That was not our ticket,” said Collins, “but she gave us a name on the premier’s staff to connect with as far as sewer funding goes.”

“Minister of Infrastructure –– very strange meeting,” said Van Minsel. “Very good meeting, but they’re not the ministry of infrastructure, they’re called the ministry of infrastructure. Don’t ask me, I’m still pondering on that one.”

A report last year said 1,604 dwellings are still using septic tanks in Peachland..

“Capital projects such as sewer extensions are costly and Peachland's population of 6,300 cannot fund major expansions simply with taxes,” Van Minsel wrote in a letter to provincial officials last year.

Early-bird charity golf tournament in Summerland

Win big at charity golf game

Photo: The Summerland Golf and Country Club

The Summerland Golf and Country Club is the idyllic setting for the 24th annual Charity Golf Tournament hosted by the Peachland Lions Club.

Two free round-trip tickets from WestJet are among the prizes to be won in one of the first charity golf tournaments of the year.

Golfers of all skill levels can tune up their game, enjoy a banquet meal, and raise money for a good cause, on Sunday, April 27 at the Summerland Golf Course.

The 24th annual tournament hosted by the Peachland Lions Club raises funds for Camp Winfield, which provides overnight outdoor recreation opportunities for kids and adults with disabilities.

“This is one of the first charity golf tournaments that take place in the Okanagan each year so it’s a great chance for eager golfers to get out and work on their game,” long-time event organizer Dave Tarry said.

“But it’s a fun tournament, so it’s also ideal for people who have just recently taken up golf,” Tarry said. “The Summerland golf course has one of the most spectacular settings in the Valley.”

Early bird fees are set at $150 per person for registrations before April 15. After April 15, the fee is $160. Banquet only admission is $45.

Registration fees include an 18-hole round of golf, use of a golf cart, and banquet ticket.

In addition to the grand prize of two free round-trip WestJet tickets between any cities served by regularly scheduled and marketed flights, there are door prizes and a silent auction with items such as a helicopter ride and wines.

Individual players are welcome, and they’ll be matched with others to create a foursome.

Tournament entry forms are available from Dave Tarry via email at [email protected] or through the peachlandlions.com website.

Four units eyed for Renfrew Road property in Peachland

Rezoning gets green light

Photo: District of Peachland

The property to be rezoned

A property on Renfrew Road – about a kilometre east of Hardy Falls – will be rezoned so a four-unit subdivision can be built sometime in the future.

Peachland council on Tuesday gave three readings to a rezoning request for 6488 Renfrew Rd. Final approval will be granted later after some minor conditions are met.

The application raised almost no concerns at council, other than it was noted the 2.27-acre property has environmentally sensitive areas.

“Development on the property will be concentrated on the southwest portion,” a report to council said. “The eastern portion of the subject property is not developable due to its slope and will be permanently protected through a no-build covenant.

“In total, approximately 44% of the property will be protected by covenants and rights-of-way, protecting the site’s environmentally sensitive and hazard areas from future development,” the report said.

Photo: District of Peachland

Peachland council meetings move to afternoons

Council meetings moved

Photo: District of Peachland

Peachland municipal council

Peachland’s regular Tuesday council meetings will move to afternoons for the rest of the year.

Except for the next one on April 22, which will start at 10 a.m.

Council generally meets twice a month at 6 p.m.

The new start time, on a trial basis, will be 3 p.m.

The move will save the municipality money and make it easier for councillors to attend virtually when they’re in Europe, said Mayor Patrick Van Minsel on Tuesday.

Coun. Keith Thom has a trip to the Netherlands upcoming. Van Minsel has family in Belgium.

“We don’t have a lot of public in the evening anyway,” said Van Minsel, explaining why the time shift was proposed. “By moving this, we make some cost savings because our staff doesn’t need to stay here that long.”

Coun. Terry Condon said the new start time will make it harder for the public to attend.

“This is the opportunity to make it even more difficult for people that work to come to a council meeting,” he said. “In my mind it’s just a question of diminishing the ability to enjoy the transparency of a council meeting.”

Thom said hardly anyone shows up at 6 p.m. anyway.

“If we were loaded at the 6 o’clock meeting with the public, I would have some problems with this, but we have one, sometimes two, maybe,” he said.

“If somebody wants to be here and it’s really important, they will be here,” added Van Minsel.

Public hearings, which are less common now under new provincial zoning rules, would still be held in the evenings, the mayor said.

Peachland’s meetings range from half an hour to two hours long. One hour would be about average.

Tuesday’s meeting lasted 45 minutes. Council also had a three-hour workshop in the morning and a closed-door meeting before the public session began.