By Adam Donnelly

Kamloops city council moves ahead with consultation on former McArthur Island Golf Course

May 8, 2018 | 5:27 PM

KAMLOOPS — The fate of the former golf course property at McArthur Island was up for discussion at today’s city council meeting. City staff brought forward a recommendation to engage the two main user groups interested in the space – the Kamloops Naturalist Club and the Kamloops Disc Golf Club – to try and find out if the two organizations can possibly co-exist.

Last October, the City of Kamloops regained possession of the McArthur Island Golf Course after the previous lessee decided not to renew the lease. Since then, the question of what to do with the 7.5-hectare space has been debated amongst a variety of user groups within the community.

Tuesday at the regular council meeting, city staff brought forward their recommendation for what to do with the property.

“We’re seeking council’s support to work with the Kamloops Naturalist Club and the Kamloops Disc Golf Club to develop a concept plan with cost estimates to bring back to council later in 2018 for consideration,” Parks Operations and Planning Supervisor Michael Doll told city council. “If the concept plan is supported, at that time we would plan to construct the park in 2019.”

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While there was plenty of discussion and a variety of opinions around the council table on what should be done with the space, council ultimately voted to approve staffs recommendations to move ahead with a consultation of the user groups ahead of planning the park

“The next steps are meeting with the two groups in question, coming up with some ideas and getting to the bottom of what their vision is for the park,” Doll said after speaking with Council. “Then [we] put pen to paper and come up with a  concept plan with some costs.”

Both the Naturalist Club and the Disc Golf Clubs were represented at the meeting. Both seemed pleased with the outcome and look forward to working each other one the city moving forward.

“Obviously we’re really pleased with the outcome, the strong support for the nature park idea,” Naturalist Club Board Member Jesse Ritcey said. “We look forward to meeting with the disc golf folks and the city of Kamloops.”

“I feel like we have the support of the council to go ahead with seeing where this arranged marriage goes,” Eccleston said. “At our core, I think all disc golfers are naturalists. We love getting out in nature.”

Work on the new park is expected to begin sometime in 2019.