West Kelowna council takes early peek at potential upgrades to Memorial Park

Following public feedback, two early concepts for park upgrades were shown to council

West Kelowna council takes early peek at potential upgrades to Memorial Park Published 3:28 pm Tuesday, July 14, 2026 The City of West Kelowna is fielding concepts for improvements to Memorial Park. Following a survey on plans to update the park in March, city staff and consultants have come back to council with draft plans with improvements.

Two different plans for park upgrades were presented to council during a July 7 special council meeting. The two conceptual plans provided both an ambitious vision for the park, as well as a scaled-back option. Concept A, the more ambitious plan, offered a more “fulsome scope of amenities,” including a permanent stage and an outdoor skating rink.

This plan could also add to the skatepark already in Memorial Park with a basketball court, a shade-providing structure, as well as other amenities like a parkour feature, a callisthenics station, a tetherball or ping-pong station. Concept B would have a reduced scale for these upgrades and could include things like a non-permanent stage structure with a stand-alone washroom and a basketball half-court. Common amenities could include an amphitheatre seating expansion, a picnic zone, a looped pathway, more trees near the event zone, a lower library plaza, improved parking and more.

During the discussion, some councillors offered their own suggestions for amenities that could be added. At the same time, some council members also said they were leaning towards the smaller-scoped plans outlined in Concept B. We’re not cash-rich.

We’re a young municipality, our reserves are slim, our residents are taxed to the hilt already,” said Councillor Rick de Jong. “I do believe there’s some immediate short-term gains in an earlier phase with limited finances that can really make this place pop even better than it does today. So if we could focus on those in earlier phases and perhaps some of the bigger ideas in later phases, that would be great.”

Council did not vote to approve any plans during the July 7 meeting. Instead, their comments and suggestions will “assist in refining a preferred concept for the next phase of the project.” Another public engagement phase will be held later in summer 2026.