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Peachland to only allow West 麻豆精选 sports teams at local facilities

The decision is to help keep the community safe during the pandemic
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Basketball hoop (Pixabay.com)

Sports teams from across B.C. wishing to make Peachland their home club to practice and play in will have to look somewhere else, especially during the pandemic.

Peachland鈥檚 district council voted on Feb. 23 to only allow West 麻豆精选 youth sports teams to come to the district for dry land exercises and to use the facilities, given the fact that Peachland children already go to West 麻豆精选 schools and are already put in cohorts with other West 麻豆精选 children.

The decision comes as part of Peachland鈥檚 COVID-19 response policy, designed to keep the town鈥檚 residents safe.

District staff brought up the issue to the council, saying that current public health orders are letting teams designate a B.C. municipality as their home club, even if it isn鈥檛 in their immediate community.

This means teams are able to travel to another community for practices and games if they declare another city as their home club.

鈥淲e have been approached by some regional teams, including affiliate clubs from Penticton and Enderby,鈥 Director of community services Cheryl Wiebe said.

鈥淭hese teams attract youth from around the region and outside the School District 23. As spectators are prohibited from viewing the activity and being in the community centre at all, while in town, they may spend their time in Peachland.鈥

She added that having people from out-of-town can have some positive impact on the district鈥檚 tourism and economy, but staff and residents are worried that the influx of people could increase the risk of COVID-19 community transmission.

As such, staff recommended only allowing West 麻豆精选 sports teams to designated Peachland as their home club.

After much deliberation, council decided to back the staff recommendation, meaning teams from outside of Peachland and West 麻豆精选 wishing to rent facilities in the district for practices and events won鈥檛 be able to do so.

鈥淭his isn鈥檛 forever,鈥 Mayor Cindy Fortin said.

鈥淲e have to protect the citizens of the community, the entire community. And right now, having all these extra teams that won鈥檛 really have much control over possibly come into our community is just, in my opinion, too risky for the citizens of Peachland.鈥

READ: COVID-19 vaccination set to start for B.C. seniors aged 80-plus


Twila Amato
Video journalist, Black Press Okanagan
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Twila Amato

About the Author: Twila Amato

Twila was a radio reporter based in northern Vancouver Island. She won the Jack Webster Student Journalism Award while at BCIT and received a degree in ancient and modern Greek history from McGill University.
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