Peachland council has finally nailed down a lease agreement for the Wibit Water Park on Okanagan Lake, but not without plenty of back-and-forth.
At Tuesday’s (Mar. 11) meeting, council settled on a $3,951 per year lease fee after rejecting a much higher $6,264 proposal in February. Following discussions between the district and the park’s operator, staff then recommend that the amount be set at $5,536 with a two per cent annual increase for the five-year lease. But even that wasn’t good enough for some on council.
Councillor Terry Condon made it clear he wasn’t impressed.
“I don’t think this is meeting the spirit of what council was trying to do when we made the request of staff to go back and take a second look at this,” he said. “To make sure that we made any increases that were necessary as painless as possible to the applicant.”
That’s when Mayor Patrick Van Minsel suggested the $3,951 figure, but Condon wanted it sent back to staff again.
“To consider what we have said here and come back as a properly supported recommendation with appropriate rationale,” he said. “And it should include the staggering of the increase to provide a little less pain in the transition.”
Van Minsel pushed back.
“We can’t keep discussing this forever and let our staff deal with this,” he said. “We are all adults around the table, this decision should be clear and sound.”
Condon fired back, arguing that if staff had properly followed council’s wishes in the first place, they wouldn’t still be debating it.
“If the applicant is okay with this mish-mash, then so am I,” he said.
Rylie Gallagher, the owner of Splash BC (Wibit), was at the meeting and agreed to the $3,951 lease fee, which will include a two per cent annual increase over the five-year term.
For comparison, last year Wibit paid nearly $2,400 in Peachland, far less than what they were charged in other Okanagan cities. In 2024, the company paid $10,500 in Osoyoos and $9,900 in Penticton. This year, those fees are set to rise to $10,500 in Osoyoos and $13,000 (plus GST/CPI) in Penticton.
