A paddle corridor along the shores of Kalamalka Lake could be added to the Regional District of North Okanagan’s 2021 budget.
The Paddle Board Trail Corridor Development Project would create a safe corridor for paddlers and reduce the conflict between motorized and non-motorized recreation. The project would use about 40 way-finding buoys to create a designated paddling zone between the buoys and the shorelines of Okanagan and Kalamalka Lakes.
The Greater Vernon Advisory Committee (GVAC) has recommended that $100,000 be earmarked for the corridor in the Greater Vernon Trails and Natural Spaces 2021 capital budget. The matter will be voted on by representatives from Coldstream, Vernon and Electoral Areas B and C at the RDNO’s Board of Directors meeting Nov. 18.
The corridor would likely have two routes, one along the west side of Kalamalka Lake and another on along the east side of Okanagan Lake, for a combined 36 kilometres.
Pending a decision by the RDNO board, the project will be divided into two parts, with the District of Lake Country handling the Kalamalka Lake portion of the corridor starting in 2021.
The Okanagan Lake, however, a Nov. 4 RDNO staff report says there was a request by Vernon committee members to move the project to 2023.
“If the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee would like, staff can break the project up into two parts, a plan and cost could be brought forward to budget deliberations,” the report reads. GVAC has already given its recommendation to divvy up the project.
READ MORE: Vernon paddleboarders raise more than $40K for People Place
READ MORE: North Okanagan trails group set for AGM