Penticton council agrees to ‘stop gap’ repairs to walking pier

PENTICTON – Penticton city council pondered several solutions for the flood damaged Kiwanis walking pier on Okanagan Lake today, agreeing to an option that will buy time for long term plans for the structure.

City engineer Ian Chapman presented a number of options available for repairs that also offered several different time spans for the structure’s future longevity.

Chapman emphasized insurance would only cover storm damaged portions of the repair work, which amounted to a maximum $78,000.

During an inspection of the pier other issues relating to the structure’s age and structural condition were found, with some of its timber components deteriorating with age.

Option one would see the city make repairs to the storm damage in addition to the structural repairs for a total estimated cost of $278,000. Chapman said the work would keep the pier viable for around five years before additional structural repairs were necessary.

Option two involves full replacement of the pier at a cost of over $1 million for a new timber structure and around $1.5 million for a concrete and steel rebuild. The service life would be between 30 and 75 years.

Option three involved the demolition of the existing pier with no new development of the site at a cost of $235,000, of which $51,000 would be funded by insurance.

Councillors looked at the first option as the best opportunity to buy time to allow so they can come up with a long-term plan for the pier.

“Our list of things we would like to put money into is quite long, and although this comes across as an opportunity, I think it’s a badly timed opportunity,” Coun. Campbell Watt said.

Coun. Max Picton said option one would make the pier viable and buy the city time to come up with more of a plan that fits into the vision for the lakefront.

“We do have a pretty substantial list of other projects that are in my opinion a little higher ranking,” he said.

Mayor Andrew Jakubeit pointed out there might be an opportunity to leverage additional funds from other government agencies, or possibly the Fintry Queen, who’s owner approached the regional district last week seeking moorage opportunities for the excursion boat in the South Okanagan.

Council agreed to option one, which will see $78,000 spent on storm damage repairs through insurance and an additional $200,000 to address additional structural repairs.

Chapman said the project could go out to tender within a week.

“We would hope there is enough capacity in the industry to get a quick response to that tender call. Normally we’d allow three to four weeks for the tender and we could be building soon after that,” he said, adding the only other problem is rising lake waters that may end up requiring the application of an environmental permit.

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