Parks and Recreation
Redesign and rebuild the Parkinson Recreation Centre. This aging public facility needs to be replaced. This will be an important objective of the next elected Council. The goal is to establish a plan to build a new Parkinson Recreation in the next four years.
I also support adding two new baseball fields to Mission Sports fields and expanding the CNC by adding two more ice rinks.
Pickleball anyone? I really want to see the Pickleball facilities expanded in Kelowna. Ideally I would like to see them include some indoor courts. The Kelowna Pickleball (2022) club is currently full with 550 members.
The Okanagan Rail Corridor: I am proud to be part of the group that secured the 49.5 kilometer CN rail line from downtown Kelowna to Cold Stream. This trail was a priority of my earlier Council. Kelowna has took the lead in negotiating this agreement. This was a "once in a lifetime" opportunity that had to be advanced. The trail opened in the autumn of 2018. Improvements have been made every years since. Kelowna has paved its section of the trail from town centre to OUC. The final section of the trail should be opened in 2022 with negotiations between the Okanagan Indian Band and the Federal Government conclude.
I have been committed to expanding off-road bicycle pathways for the last 14 years. I have supported the extension of the Abbot Street Corridor to Gyro Beach. The off-road multi purpose pathways keep getting better and better in Kelowna. There is a master plan to bring all of these pathways together so efficient travel by e-bike, e-scooter, bicycles and walking can take place across the entire city.
Establish new playing fields in Glenmore. The work on this park has begun, but It has a long way to go.
Continue to develop a new Greenway along Belleview Creek and Mill Creek. These are long-term initiativses.
Expand Public access to the waterfront. Whenever an opportunity arises to secure lakefront for the benefit of the entire community it should be pursued. One such pusuit was the purchase of the new "Bluebird Beach" off lakeshore in 2017. Council grabbed an opportunity to add this valuable asset to the collection of City beaches. It is now time to enhance this beautiful beach