By James Peters

Council gives go-ahead to mixed-use concept for former McArthur Island golf course

Jan 29, 2019 | 4:06 PM

KAMLOOPS — City council has voted 5-3 in favour of turning the former McArthur Island Golf Course into a mixed use park.

The property will include a passive nature park and an 18-hole disc golf course.

The proposal has created tension between competing interests in recent months, with the Kamloops Naturalist Club (KNC) expressing doubts that the two concepts can co-exist.

KNC did come through with an eleventh hour-proposal to share space with a nine-hole disc golf course, and though the Kamloops Disc Golf Club (KDGC) said that wouldn’t work for hosting tournaments, the scaled down course drew the interest of some councillors, including Councillor Dieter Dudy.

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“I feel that since there is only a potential for two tournaments in a given year, there really isn’t a strong need for 18 holes throughout this thing. You can make provisions for those 18 holes during those tournament periods. I think if you can work it out so you have the nine holes there, it would lend itself more to working in concert with everybody who’s concerned,” said Dudy.

But others, such as Councillor Bill Sarai, believed the park would be better served by being busier.

“We need some kind of activity in that park,” said Sarai. “I commend you for the [nature park]; I think the schools, the elementary school children and the high schools will get a lot of advantages going down there and learning about nature. But I also think, the quieter it will leave that park in the later hours, the worse that park is going to get for us to reclaim it.”

City staff say it will take about $1-million spread over three phases.