
Aer
Kamloops city staff appear ready to plunge forward with a multi-use park at McArthur Island.
A report going to city council tomorrow recommends the former McArthur Island Golf Course site be turned into an 18-hole disc golf course with natural areas.
Public works manager Jenn Fretz says the report on how to redevelop the 7.5-hectare property has been worked on since May of last year, and has involved collaboration with the Kamloops Naturalists Club and the Kamloops Disc Golf Club.
“I think it’s exciting, it will expose people to disc golf who may not have been exposed to disc golf before, and it will also provide a very large natural area within the City of Kamloops.”
Fretz says Kamloops city staff visited eight similar parks in B.C., two in the Interior and six in the Lower Mainland, and determined disc golf and nature could mesh together.
“Some people were concerned about random flying discs for example, and based on the tours that we’ve done of other locations it’s very easy for us to design this site so that those potential conflicts are greatly reduced.”
The multi-use park would be created in three phases beginning this year and is currently expected to cost just over $1 million.
Phase one would come in at $198,000, and would see disc golf added to the park and the former mini golf course refurbished, as well as old infrastructure removed, cleanup of the site and construction of a main path.
City council will be asked tomorrow to include the park plans in its discussions for this year’s supplemental budget.