Kelowna chamber to press government on Okanagan corridor

VERNON – Another force is joining the fight to preserve the railway between Vernon and Kelowna for public use.

The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce has passed a motion to encourage federal, provincial and municipal governments to preserve the railway in a way that benefits the Okanagan.

“The concept of a public access use of the corridor as a trail would be fantastic,” executive officer for the chamber Caroline Grover says. “But at this early stage, that might be too narrow a comment to make.”

She says it’s important right now to keep the chamber's stance open not just to a trail, but to other potential uses like parking and public accesses as well.

“We’re recognizing there’s an opportunity to create something unique and iconic that could never be done again,” Grover says. “It would be great for tourism, and also looking at our residents, the number of people that could use different sections would be wonderful.”

The chamber will be actively lobbying various levels of government to work together in preserving the corridor.

“We have regular opportunities where we meet with all three levels of government at once. Our executive board members sit down with the mayor, MLA and MP several times a year. It’s a great opportunity to have discussions about things like this,” Grover says.

The Vernon chamber recently announced its support of an Okanagan Rail Trail and a citizens group is working to rally support.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724