Municipal leaders in the Kamloops area say usage of local parks has skyrocketed this summer and say that has caused some issues.

Director Mike O’Reilly brought up that topic at the latest Thompson-Nicola Regional District meeting.

“I’m starting to hear of conflict of users of these parks and neighbours that have never seen this volume of traffic in their neighbourhoods or on their streets before. And I’m wondering how we can go about addressing our assets. Recreational assets are being used to levels we’ve never really seen or thought of.”

Director Ward Stamer says east of Barriere, the boat launch at Agate Bay has about 40-50 times cars parked each day along the road right-of-way, compared to 10-15 on a normal day.

“And so now that’s impeding traffic, it’s intruding safety. There’s no proper place to put these vehicles that are parking on both sides of the road. It’s late in the game this time of year, but maybe we should be looking at it as we go forward. Because I think the public is out there accessing with a higher frequency than they have in the past. We may end up having those types of issues going forward.”

The TNRD’s community services director Ron Storie says the regional district hasn’t heard any formal issues at its regional parks.

While there are a number of provincial and municipal parks in the area, director of community services Ron Storie says this issue hasn’t come up at any regional parks within the TNRD.