The Kamloops Heritage Society is asking city council to designate Riverside and Pioneer Parks as Heritage Parks.

President Peggy Broad says they don’t want to see development at the parks, and they want both areas preserved as green spaces.

“If they are designated as that type of area, they won’t be able to put structures on those areas, like parkades or parking lots, things like that,” she said.

“The green spaces will be maintained, so hopefully that will be the case for both of them in the future.”

A memo from city staff says Riverside is a recognized heritage property, but it’s not a protected one.

The same memo notes that Pioneer Park isn’t a recognized heritage property, at the moment.

“If we have these areas where people can go and they can see the trees and they can see the plants, they can have community events and that sense of community, it’s very important for the public overall,” Broad added.

“I think that’s the most important thing to me would be to see these areas maintained, so that people can actually visit them and they can have these green spaces next to the river and in the heart of Kamloops.”

City Development, Engineering, and Sustainability Director Marvin Kwiatkowski says Riverside Park is currently zoned as P-1.

A P-1 zone is used to identify lands used for active or organized recreational activities in developed parks, play fields, or similar recreational facilities, including arenas and lands used for passive or unorganized
activities (i.e. hiking trails and mountain bike trails)

Pioneer Park is also zoned P-1, and Kwiatkowski wrote that if council decides, administration can begin the process to classify Pioneer Park as a recognized heritage property.