Spring floods took a toll on several regional and community parks in the Central Okanagan.
Four parks remain closed and most likely won’t open until next year at the earliest.
“We thank everyone for their patience and understanding while we work through the process to fund repairs and reopen these parks, getting them back to the shape they were in before the unprecedented flood waters severely damaged them,” said Communications Officer Bruce Smith, in a press release.
RELATED: FLOOD RECOVERY COULD TAKE TIME, SAY OFFICIALS
To fund the repairs, regional district parks employees have been busy laying the groundwork to get potential funding to help cover some of the cost of repairs.
The Regional District has been documenting and detailing the damage to its parks and continues working with the Province of BC on park recovery operations to make repairs and get them open as soon as practically possible. Due to the complexity and amount of work required at the both levels, it’s estimated that complete repairs may take in the order of 12 to 18 months.
RELATED: PEACHLAND HAMMERED BY FLOODS
As a result, the following parks will remain closed until further notice: Hardy Falls Regional Park (after first bridge upstream including falls viewpoint), Mill Creek Regional Park, Fintry Community Park Access No. 1 (Boat Launch) and Killiney Beach Community Park.
And, the following parks will remain open with restricted capacity: Okanagan Centre Safe Harbour Regional Park and Glen Canyon Regional Park, Lower Section Gellatly Road to Town Center.