Airport Beach in Penticton will soon be open to the public

PENTICTON – The city has a new deal with the owners of Airport Beach.

The city said in a press release issued today it has agreed to provide beach cleaning and maintenance services for the remainder of the summer in exchange for public access to the beach by residents and visitors.

Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said the agreement works well for both parties.

“We both agree that keeping the beach attractive and accessible benefits everyone. The city has specialized equipment and trained operators to do the work and can step in to provide this important service during the peak of the summer season,” he said.

City work crews have been cleaning the beach for the past several days and expect to wrap up the work this week.

The clean up has cost an estimated $6,000 so far with another $5,000 earmarked for summer maintenance.

Chief Adminstrative Officer Peter Weeber said a former agreement for use of the beach cost the city around $57,000 a year to lease the beach and perform the required maintenance. He said the present agreement is in place with the beach’s private landowner for this season only.

He expects the beach to be open to the public in the next few days.

The city’s prior agreement for use of the beach terminated in 2014. Since then, little maintenance was done and the beach had become littered with debris, especially following this year’s high water levels.

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