Update: Council Responds To Residents’ Rail Trail Concerns

Apr 25, 2019 | 10:30 AM

Coldstream’s mayor says, despite concerns from the neighborhood, council still plans to go ahead with a paved parking area on Westkal Road at Kickwillie Loop, near the Rail Trail.

Jim Garlick says it will allow for better management of the parking, and make it safer than the current situation.

“It’s a well used area. If anything. we’re scaling back the potential parking there at this time. With putting in designated parking spaces. It allows us to manage the parking in that area better,” Garlick tells Beach Radio News.

Garlick says the regional district is handling the design and planning for the parking.

“It sits on Coldstream right-of-way, but they’re doing it. We just want to make sure all the safety aspects are covered off and it’s done properly.”

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Garlick says the Westkal access is popular with families with little kids or people with mobility challenges.

“They can access it and get to the lake a little sooner.”

The mayor says parking for the trail will be an ongoing project.

“We will tweak it as we find out more information and the amount of people using it.”

Garlick says trail users will also be encouraged to use the new parking lot on Kalamalka Road, which will be added to the Rail Trail map, and signage will be installed.

“I think in the end, we want to encourage people to ride to the trail, and use it from there.”

In the longer term, Garlick says the District would like to add a section from College Way to Mile 88, east of the Westkal access, with land for that still needed to be purchased.

“You can see the real potential along Westkal for a bike lane or something put in there. You can ride down to Mile 88 and enter the trail.”

A washroom is also in the plans for the Westkal location.

Neighborhood reps from Westkal Road, along with Stoneridge and Greystone, urged council to complete the parking lot on Kalamalka Road, add fencing Westkal Road, and put more study into the Kickwillie-Westkal parking issue, during a presentation to council Tuesday.

April 22

Residents from Westkal Road in Coldstream are concerned about the District’s plan for a paved 50 vehicle parking lot by the Okanagan Rail Trail access in that area.

The residents, which also include residents on Stoneridge and Greystone Drives, say in a presentation to Coldstream Council they are “excited to have this amazing asset in our neighbourhood” and see it enjoyed by so many users, but add they are concerned about patterns of use and user behaviour.

“Our delegation today wants to share those concerns and suggest options to mitigate impact and ensure that safety is a paramount for the imminent plans to construct a 50 unit parking lot at the WestKal/Kickwillie junction.”

Neighborhood reps Sean Bicknell and Don Seaton will be making the presentation to council tonight, asking the elected reps to focus on completing the parking lot on Kalamalka Road, adding fencing Westkal Road, and putting more study into the Kickwillie-Westkal parking issue.

The residents question the safety of that site as a long term parking area, which they say was originally only supposed to be a secondary trail access.

In their presentation, the residents state:

We are concerned about the absence of a safety audit that considers:
• how parking will be managed on both sides of the road
• how and where ’no parking’ areas will be designated and enforced
• location for a safe turn-around area and drop off zone
• how trail users will get to trail access ramps. (Currently it is via WestKal Road amidst traffic).
• how the additional traffic of rail trail users, added to residential traffic, Kal Club users, and boat launch/water access users will impact neighbourhood traffic flow and safety.
• how the area will remain safe as the trail use escalates, during events, etc.
• We are also concerned about the noise and visual impacts of a large parking lot in a residential neighbourhood and would like to see plans to mitigate that impact.

by Corey Fischer