Kelowna boardwalk closure drags on due to apparent dispute between city, hotel owner

An apparent dispute between the City of Kelowna, B.C., and a hotel owner is delaying public access to a popular waterfront boardwalk.

“This is a lovely walkway to go through and enjoy the waterfront,” said Raymond Wiebe, who lives in the Lower Mission area.

Last July, the city announced the temporary closure of the roughly half-kilometre boardwalk in front of the Eldorado and Manteo resorts for repairs.

In its public service announcement on July 14, the city stated, “the boardwalk is anticipated to reopen in September.”

“It hasn’t reopened since then,” Wiebe said.

Nor have any repairs taken place.

“I think it’s too bad,” said Kim Thompson, another concerned Kelowna resident. “I think everyone would enjoy that part of the lake and to access it.”

Wiebe says he’s sent multiple messages to the city, which replied it’s being denied access to do the work.

In an email to Wiebe last month, the city stated, ““Hotel management continues to restrict access to the site – including access for construction crews to do the repair work that was identified last year.”

It also added, “Based on direction from the City’s legal team, we have decided not to remedy via self-help (i.e. unilaterally cutting locks, removing gates, etc.)”

The city declined to comment to Global News, saying there is nothing new to add to the response it sent Wiebe.

“I don’t really know what it is, what they are wanting to achieve by denying access to the city to come in and do the work,” Wiebe said.

Global’s messages to Argus went unanswered Tuesday.

The decades-old public right-of-way agreement was made with previous hotel owners and came to a head in 2020 under Argus’ ownership when the boardwalk was closed to the public.

Among the reasons for the closure given by Argus was for crowd control and physical distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The issue ended up in court, with Argus arguing the agreement wasn’t legally valid or enforceable.

The city argued closing the boardwalk was a breech of conditions.

In the end, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled the agreement was valid and the boardwalk must remain accessible to the public.

The boardwalk did reopened for a couple of years until last September, when it closed to accommodate the repairs.

However, with the city not taking any action at this point, it’s not known if or when the repairs will happen or when and if the boardwalk will reopen to the public.

“This doesn’t make us feel like we have a very good neighbour,” Wiebe said.

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