Council also renames neighbourhood park
With funding already secured for an indoor soccer dome, West Kelowna is having issues finding a suitable place to put it.
The inflatable dome is a joint project with the Westside Youth Soccer Association, which has raised $650,000 towards the $1.5 million project.
But a progress report on Tuesday night found that 11 locations have been both proposed and turned down for the site.
Mayor Doug Findlater says it's frustrating that a solution hasn't been found.
"We had some very well-intentioned, energetic soccer people go out and attract funding for this, and we hadn't done the work up front in terms of determining a location. And now we're running around trying to find a location, and none of them are perfect," he said.
"Some of them are rejected by (the WYSA), and some of them are not suitable for other reasons."
Councillor Duane Ophus says they were supposed to see more progress at this point.
"This is really fundamentally my only complaint – we were promised this report within three weeks, at a meeting in January. And it's May now," he said.
"It's taken too long, and it needs to move along."
CAO Jim Zaffino told council that staff are in currently confidential negotiations with a local organization, who could potentially make room for the soccer dome, in a location that has the Association's approval.
The 11 properties surveyed were:
- 2011 Daimler Drive – Alliance Church .
- 860 Anders Road – Anders Park
- 2010 Daimler Drive – Constable Neil Bruce
- Lot 2, Plan KAP82274 – George Pringle Field
- Lot A, Plan EPP9710, DL 486 – lnterior Health Site
- Lot 7, Plan K4P23881, DL 1 118 – lssler Park
- 3170 Shannon Lake Rd – Kinsmen Park
- 3743 Old Okanagan Hwy – Memorial Park
- 2490 Shannon Woods Drive – Shannon Woods Park
- 2829 lnverness Road – Webber Road Community Centre
- 2500 Wild Horse Drive – Wildhorse Park
A neighbourhood park in West Kelowna is set to be named after a longtime community member.
Also on Tuesday, council voted to name Avondale Park after Bob McPherson, whose family is raising $75,000 to install a new playground.
McPherson was the former owner of Whiski-Jack's Pub, and died back in 2011.
Councillor Rick de Jong says he felt strongly about going against staff's recommendation not to change the name.
"I feel quite strongly about this one. I understand staff is kind of corralled by the policy, we have the position in the policy to go this route, and I think we should go this route, absolutely. The park should be named after the family, not just the playground area itself," he said.
Councillor Rusty Ensign also says the name change is a no-brainer, considering the current name doesn't have a deep connection to the city.
"Avondale, if you really wanted to find out where the name came from, you could go to the Diocese of Nelson of the Catholic Church, because that's who developed the property. And I can't link Avondale to any of that," he said.
"Mr. McPherson raised all the money to develop the park back in the day, and they've been great corporate citizens. To me, it meets all the criteria."
McPherson was the former owner of Whiski-Jack's Pub, and along with his family helped raise more than $1 million for local projects over the years.
The park is located just off of Avondale Place in the Lakeview Heights neighbourhood.
Council was unanimous in supporting the re-naming.
