
Kamloops city staff will be looking to do work on the three boat launches, but how much work will be done over the next three years is up for discussion.
Council was presented with a couple of options as part of supplemental budget items. Facilities Manager Jeff Putnam says the first option is to install about $8,000 worth of new signage, while a second option looks at larger future expenditures. The work would include paved parking at Pioneer Park for vehicles with trailers.
“Because right now there is a bit of a tree island that separate the boat trailer parking as well as the Pioneer Park visitor parking. We want to kind of connect those two. Have better flow, increase the capacity for parking your boat trailer as well. And then we are also looking at what it might look lime if we charge a small fee for boat trailer parking.”
Other work in options two includes boat ramp replacements at Pioneer Park and Valleyview and replacing the dock and performing dredging at McArthur Island. Putnam says it is proposing to do it all in a multi-year approach. “At some point we are going to have to repair the actual ramps at Pioneer Park and Valleyview boat launches and that cost is $380,000 and that’s being proposed to do in year three of our business case.”
Putnam says it is proposing adding paid parking. The report indicates that could generate around $15,000 in annual revenue. That’s based on a $5 per day fee. “There are a limited number of boat users in general and then basically city tax payers are essentially subsidizing the maintenance of these boat launches for the boat users. So it is quite common to have a small fee to use the launch and use the parking area.”
The proposal looks to spend $8,000 this year on signs. #300,000 next year on Pioneer park parking, $380,000 in 2022 on boat ramp replacements and another $75,000 in 2023 for dock replacement at McArthur Island. Putnam says dredging work at McArthur Island is set to take place this year in either late winter or in the fall. That work is still awaiting environmental approvals.