It’s been about 16 months since Kelowna City Council agreed to change the zoning of Kelowna Springs Golf Course (KSGC) as private recreational.
Now a community activist, and self-proclaimed “thorn in the side” of city council, is reviving the cause.
The saga of the golf course began in January 2022 when the city adopted the 2040 Official Community Plan, which designated 480 Penno Road as industrial.
By that August, coun. Luke Stack brought forward a motion to change the land use back to private recreation, but it failed. That fall, Vancouver-based Denciti Group purchased the property with plans to develop it into an industrial complex.
Stack’s motion was brought back in February 2023, this time in front of a newly elected city council.
By March, city council agreed to send the matter, which had garnered a lot of attention and feedback from the community, to a public hearing.
Coun. Stack’s reasons for maintaining the land use as private recreational space ranged from maintaining “large, flat, walkable greenspace” to flood protection in the area.
The land use for the site was eventually changed back to private industrial use in June 2023.
Those sentiments are echoed in Susan Ames’ latest proposal that suggests the city should purchase the site and run it as a municipal golf course.
Ames ran in the 2022 election and is a community activist involved in several initiatives, including efforts to reject redevelopment plans of the Parkinson Recreation Centre and protecting the city’s heritage areas.
Her most recent cause was emailed to local media and posted to her website.
“The only way to save KSGC and keep this amenity is to purchase it from the developer,” says Ames’ proposal.
“It is time for Kelowna to have its own municipal golf course that provides public recreation that is already built, a tourism draw, a green site, and an amenity that also and importantly provides natural flood management which saves the city millions of dollars.”
She says making the course a municipal one would provide flood management, maintain an affordable and walkable course for residents and tourists and protect wildlife habitat.
Ames says Kelowna Springs has its own water source so it doesn’t require municipal irrigation and points to a 28% vacancy rate in industrial real estate “so there is no need to damage important green space for such a use.”
“Kelowna Springs would be a city amenity that generates funds for the city while still providing for flood protection of the city’s amenities,” Ames’ proposal says.
She also claims that purchasing the 106 acre site for $30 million would be a better value than the recent purchase of the 1.8 acre Truswell property for $18 million.
Ames says she has forwarded her proposal to city council but it is unclear if, or when, this would be reviewed by city staff or make its way to city council.
The long-term plan for KSGC will see it transition to and operate as a nine-hole course for the 2025 season.
An announcement made in August 2024 by the Play Golf Kelowna collective said “Denciti has committed to work on a long-term lease for a nine-hole golf course with a new operator.”