OSOYOOS TIMES-June 16, 2010

By Laurena Weninger - Osoyoos Times

The plan to build a marina in Lions Bay is “not a done deal,” said Alain Cunningham, Osoyoos’s director of planning and development services.
But Glen Harris, from Osoyoos Shoreline Development Ltd. is not going to be a happy camper if the plan falls through.
“I would be upset,” Harris said at a public information meeting on June 10, held at the Sonora Centre. “I respect it’s a process, but it was entered into in good faith.”
Harris, Cunningham, Carrie Nadeau of Summit Environmental Consultants and Terry Underwood of TRUE Engineering Consultants spoke at the meeting to explain the background and immediate future of the Lions Bay marina project.
Almost 60 members of the public were in attendance to hear the details of the project and voice their opinions.
Osoyoos’s mayor and several town councillors were also present.
The marina was included in the Town’s Waterfront Master Plan, explained Cunningham, which was adopted by council in the fall of 2007 after a public consultation process.
The marina project began to take shape in the summer of 2006, during the development of the Watermark Beach Resort on Main Street.
During the permitting process of the resort’s application, the Town told the developer it did not want a marina built in front of the resort location.
“The applicant agreed to this providing the Town would agree to a public-private agreement to construct a marina near Lions Park,” states information from the Town’s planning and development department and the Town agreed to enter into a joint venture deal with the resort’s developers to construct the marina.
That agreement took the form of a “comfort letter,” Cunningham explained at the June 10 meeting and council endorsed the letter.
Harris said the sales of some of the resort’s units depended on the development of the marina.
But a rezoning of the land is required to allow the development, which will include 134 slips – half for the resort’s use, half to be used as the Town sees fit.
The marina may also include a fuelling station.
Marina construction would likely happen in three stages – but only after final approval is received from various governmental agencies.
So far, the application has been seen by several agencies, including the provincial Integrated Land Management Bureau.
In February, it went to the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which requested a Riparian Area Report.
The report was submitted by Nadeau to the department earlier this month.
When all approvals are secured, the first phase of the project will include dredging the lagoon and establishing 34 slips.
To do this, a “curtain” would be installed to seal the lagoon off from the rest of the lake.
All stages will be supervised by an environmental consultant and a “stop work” order would be issued if anything deviates from the established environmental plans.
The dredging would begin in the fall, with some portion of the marina operational by summer 2011.
Cunningham said Town staff will report back to council with information from the public meeting.
At its May 3 meeting, council unanimously agreed to give first reading to the site specific zoning amendment that will allow for the construction of the marina.
But following a public hearing on May 17, council decided not to give second and third readings to the amended bylaw, instead agreeing to hold the June 10 meeting.
reporter@osoyoostimes.com

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