Court has rejected a sale offer for Sickle Point as citizens and the RDOS rally to make their own offer

Photo: Contributed

David Mai/Kaleden Community Association

Those hoping to save Sickle Point in Kaleden have a glimmer of hope.

At a hearing on Monday, a B.C. Supreme Court master turned down a developer’s $2.1-million offer to purchase the 4.8-acre parcel on Skaha Lake, according to Bill Newell, CAO for the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS).

The pending offer would have needed to be approved by the court within 21 days. But after the property owner spoke against it in court, it was dismissed.  

Newell confirmed that the RDOS will continue with the process in trying to purchase the park, to determine if the eligible voters within the Kaleden Parks and Recreation Service Area are interested in borrowing for the acquisition of Sickle Point.  

“Our bylaw currently sits at the third reading and is into the Province for approval to proceed through the Alternative Approval Process (APP). If the Province authorizes us to proceed, it is our intent to commence that process in January,” Newell wrote in an email.

“We haven’t seen the decision of the Master and we aren’t sure if the petitioner is putting the property back on the market, so our target right now is restricted to the AAP.”

That AAP would need community support for the RDOS to borrow up to $3.5 million for the purchase, and will not be a done deal until Feb. 8 2021. 

Along with the RDOS, the PIB added in its support against the development of Sickle Point, as a key piece of land in Kaleden with ecological and cultural significance. 

A grassroots Save Sickle Point group continues to collect signatures in opposition to the subdivision and run its own fundraising campaign that is collecting pledges to help preserve what they describe as mostly pristine, key lakeshore habitat, the likes of which is increasingly hard to come by. 

For more information, find their Facebook group here.