City of Vernon buys another high-priced lakeshore property

VERNON – It’s all part of the big picture. Over the last two decades, the City of Vernon has been buying lakeshore property on Okanagan Lake as it pieces together enough land for a public waterfront park.

The latest is the property at 2602 Lakeshore Road for $707,500. A pretty good price considering councillors have approved purchases of up to $1.8-million for other properties in that target area.

Mayor Akbal Mund says the city now owns eight lots and the last one connects six in a row. He says they have three more to buy.

“It (the park) would have waterfront connection so people could go all the way from Kin Beach to Paddlewheel Park,” he says. “That’s our long-term strategy. It could happen five years from now or it could happen 20 years from now.”

He says it all depends on when the owners of the last three properties decide to sell.

And it’s not like the properties the city owns are sitting idle. Some are rented out and generate income for city coffers.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Howard Alexander at halexander@infonews.ca or call 250-491-0331. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.