Residents and tourists will soon be able to rent paddle boards and kayaks at the Parksville Community Park for the first time since 2019.
City council voted to issue Island View Kayak Rentals a licence to operate at the former Hovercraft Base Site in the park’s north end. Six kayaks and six stand-up paddle boards will be available to rent, along with life jackets and other safety equipment, according to Amanda Weeks, the city’s manager of administrative services.
The applicant plans to use a transport van to carry and store equipment, as well as commercial white tent to help with day-to-day operations.
Island View Kayak Rentals was the only applicant that met the city’s stipulations after it advertised the opening for several weeks.
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The site has not been leased since 2019 and before that it was only leased in the 2013 season and again in 2007 (when it was only leased for two months before the agreement was terminated) and prior to 2007 it was leased in 1994 according to Weeks’s report to council.
In 2007, the main complaint from the lessee was the lack of people making their way to the site. With the improvements to the community park since that time, including the boardwalk and walkway that ends at the Hovercraft site, foot traffic has improved in that section of the community park, according to the report.