Finally a real rest stop with gas, food on the Connector

PENTICTON – Soon there may be a place to pullover to fill up the tank, grab some food or just take a break at the Elkhart summit on the Okanagan Connector.

A proposal is going before the regional district for a service station, drive-through restaurant, commercial cardlock facility and a highway maintenance yard at the the Elkhart Lodge, which is roughly halfway between Peachland and Merritt on Highway 97C.

The proponent says the development would provide an "opportunity to service an area presently lacking,” with no other options to get gas, have a meal or rest on that stretch of high mountain highway, adding the development could eventually create 30 to 50 full time jobs.

The proposal is scheduled to go to public hearing at the regional district office in Penticton on Thursday, May 9 because changes need to be made to the Official Community Plan to allow the development on the 3.5 hectare portion of the property to proceed. The property is currently zoned for a motel and restaurant, and a service station was once located on the site.

Some concerns were voiced in an accompanying administrative report about the remote location of the proposed development, which is 50 kilometres away from the nearest community.

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