Popular West Kelowna beach closed for repairs

Rotary Beach in West Kelowna to close for a month. (Photo submitted/City of West Kelowna)

The City of West Kelowna will close Rotary Park, including the beach and parking lot areas, starting Wednesday, Sept. 11 in order to complete much-needed restoration and flood mitigation work.

Historic Okanagan Lake flooding in 2017 and high water levels in 2018 caused damage to riprap, retaining walls and staircases along the shoreline.

The City of West Kelowna will reinstall displaced riprap, remove failed retaining walls and replace them with naturalized protected embankments, repair staircases and restore habitat and park landscaping.

The work will preserve shoreline habitat and prevent erosion ensuring the waterfront park remains around for all to enjoy for many decades to come.

The work will take just over one month allowing the City to reopen the park Tuesday, Oct. 15.

The city says Gellatly dog beach, CNR Wharf, the multi-use trail, Willow Beach, Powers Point Park, the Gellatly boat launch, Marina Park and Gellatly Landing Park all remain open with free, public parking along Gellatly Road south of Boucherie Road.