Osoyoos' 85th Street Plaza project zeros in on amenities

Photo: WSP Canada

Option 3 was a popular choice amongst Osoyoos councillors but could cost more because of the need for more poles.

Osoyoos’ hallmark 85th St. Plaza project is ramping up with elected officials debating the colours, sizes and number of suspended shade screens, ping pong tables and cooling misters after the province chipped in with a grant of $550,000 to assist with the project.

Council now has a budget of $800,000 ($500,000 Destination Development Fund (DDF) and $300,000 Resort Municipality Initiative) to utilize as it contemplates the various amenities for the plaza. Both of these grants must be used for tourism-related developments and cannot be diverted to other projects.

In a presentation to council on May 9, Robert Fershau from consulting firm WSP Canada presented various options for the Phase 1 design, which has been delineated as the strip from Main St. to the alleyway. Phase 2 will continue down 85th towards the Royal Canadian Legion.

Planning is currently at about 50-60 per cent completion because this was what was needed to apply for the DDF grant.

Among the key development options are the introduction of street trees and tensile shade structure, a misting station and drinking fountain, making the park fully accessible, creating multiple seating opportunities and configurations, signage and wayfinding, and public art. Fershau also noted that there is an overarching aim to create a flexible space to support event programming.

“One thing we could not achieve with the budget we have is a washroom and storage facility,” he added saying they looked at examples from Kelowna, Vernon and Nelson and determined that a single stall washroom would cost between $300,000 and $400,000.

Other amenities that have been added include bike racks, and a bike repair station. Basketball hoops at the back of the park have been removed due to lack of support from councillors who expressed concern that the activity was not compatible with the aim of the park. A ping pong table was also in the offing but was dropped.

The plaza will also be outfitted with electrical outlets to cater for events as well as food trucks. Another feature being considered is the inclusion of a “Christmas tree” which would provide a focal point for Christmas events such as the annual market and light up.

Much of the discussion centred around the tensile shade structures, an important element of the park given the hot and sunny nature of Osoyoos’ climate and the litany of complaints about the park as it now exists in its pilot form.

“Shade structures are in the budget and there’s many different ways you can approach them,” Fershau began the discussion. “Do you have temporary ones? You can have permanent ones, you can have combination, you can have year-round protection (which typically increases the cost of materials), and they add a ton of character to a space.”

He notes there are a number of things to consider like size, height, angle, positioning, quantity, opacity of the fabric, “there’s a whole string of considerations,” he added.

Four options were presented to council: Option 1 consisting of one large sail placed at the front (Main St.) of the plaza; Option 2 with two medium sails also at the front end; Option 3 with a multitude of overlapping sails some interconnected at different heights and; Option 4 comprised of linked midsize sails.

As discussion began around the various options, Jared Brounstein, director of Operational Services highlighted that staff required direction on what option council preferred in order for a request for proposal (RFP) to be issued.

Mayor Sue McKortoff kicked off the discussion commenting that she hoped the composition of the fabric for the sun shades would be looked into considering the damage caused by the sun and the dryness of the climate.

Coun. Jim King expressed his preference for option three (multiple small sails) “because they can maybe be changed more easily and they might last longer. And with different colours it will add a lot more atmosphere to the plaza,” he said.

He also suggested it would be better to have smaller sails over the picnic tables, depending where the furniture is placed. “If you put one big one at the front and there’s two picnic tables under it, then there’s no shade over the other ones,” he said.

Fershau replied that the challenge is due the fact that the sun moves, adding that in the future with the amount of trees that will be planted along with the sun shades, “there should be nice shade along the sides as well”.

Also in favour of option three, Coun. Zach Porturica said he liked the ability to have different colours and with multiple sails the shade could be spread out. He also felt it was important to keep the centre area open.

Fershau highlighted the fact that more sails means more poles which also translates to extra cost. In terms of the colours he said it’s important to consider that, “there’s some colours that you don’t want to go with like bright, bright teal because it’s going to fade into an ugly light green over time.”

McKortoff chimed in saying, “I think we need to be very careful about colour. We’ve already gone through that once this year,” she said laughing. Fershau responded that the sails could be white with just the poles coloured.

The mayor expressed her preference for either option three or four (linked midsize sails) but also expressed her concern that the multiple sail option would cost more saying, “if there’s more cost than we need to look at that as well.”

She also raised the issue of whether they would be left up through the wind, snow and ice of winter, or would go up for six months and then down for six. This would be an issue for Operational Services, Fershau deferred, but added these type of tensile shade structures are typically rated for very strong wind.

Fershau concluded by saying: “I have a sense the final design will be something similar to a larger sail, creating a larger amount of space in the front area of the plaza with potentially some smaller sails to create more space and more shade.”

The issue will be revisited once the RFP results are in.