Information regarding the Kettle Valley Railroad (KVR) which is under review.

I am not in favor of creating a hike and bike corridor on the KVR:

Starting at Vaseux Lake (where there is no bridge)

Below the Dam it crosses the river (where there is no bridge)

After crossing it goes though a piece of Indian Reserve, and the RDOS therefore has no jurisdiction.

Closer to the Town of Oliver the grade has been turned into a Dike for the new River restoration.

In the Town the land has been ether purchased or leased.

At the end of Sawmill Road there is swamp land beside the packing house. It will destroy a valuable piece of environmental important area. Testalinden creek will have to be bridged where it can potentially interrupt flood control measures.

From Road 9 to Rd 22 the grade has been leased to farmers (ten years) where the government collects lease fees and also taxes.

Farmers do not want hike & bike trails between their lands.

The government has leased in order to preserve a transportation corridor. Some lease applications are now being processed with a fee already paid.

The track from the head of Osoyoos Lake to Osoyoos is in private hands and therefore will never covert to a hike & bike trail.

The RDOS trail proposals are not sensible and propose a high cost for development. This trail will be used only by a small percentage of our population.

New roadway needed. Is the passing lane at road 22 a part of a plan to upgrade highway 97 to 3 or 4 lanes at the cost of present farmland? The development of the KVR plans will give the highways department no choice. If a paved 2 lane road on KVR right away was developed it would provide a side road for Tractors and Equipment and Transport Trucks to stay off 97 and a way to get to Oliver’s Commercial Centre.

The present cyclists prefer to go over Road 9 Bridge to the Black Sage vineyards to enjoy the wineries and the view, then on to Road 22. Will cyclist complain when sprayed with products like fixed copper, copper sulfate, black ferbam and others? Will cyclist complain about animal’s state of health, penning and pastures and farm Dogs.

I have seen in the last decade urban concepts pressed upon this rural area costing farming finances and procedures to be burdensome to the point of ending an era of family farming which began in 1920 with the building of the Irrigation Canal.

The lands have been posted with a short time for letters of protests.

Dave Evans