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UPDATE 12:10 p.m.
The owner of the Okanagan Beach Club's tiki bar says he fully denies the claims made by the West Kelowna RCMP and RDCO related to his business.
"These allegations are all false," Ryan Hargreaves said, referring to the police claims of cocaine use at the bar and the fire department's alleged visits for over-intoxication.
Hargreaves says he will be demanding proof of the allegations from fire and police officials, because he hasn't seen any evidence of the claims yet.
He said his tiki bar operates independently of the larger Lake Okanagan Resort, and his business is not responsible for emergency visits related for the entire facility, and emergency visits to the bar have been extremely rare.
Hargreaves said he has always welcomed the police to check in on the tiki bar, which is mostly full of families, with the exception of Saturday nights. The claims made by the police and fire department related to the bar are simply not true, he reiterated.
ORIGINAL 4 a.m.
The Okanagan Beach Club's Tiki Bar may have to reduce the size of its patio area this summer, but the owner of the beach club says the unique bar isn't going anywhere.
The Okanagan Beach Club opened at the site of the Okanagan Lake Resort in the summer of 2020, offering a new “Mexican-style resort” experience on the western shores of Okanagan Lake, about 25 minutes north of Kelowna.
In response to the shutting down of indoor dining near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, B.C.'s Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch allowed restaurants and bars to temporarily expand their service areas, particularly patios, beginning in May 2020. Those restaurants that did are now required to get an extension authorization by the LCRB, to extend the expanded service area through to March 31, 2023.
In a report to the Regional District of the Central Okanagan board, which will vote on the matter next week, staff recommend not supporting the application for the continued expanded service area, due to "noise, unsafe boating, fire safety and inadequate emergency plans." In the report, both the West Kelowna RCMP and the RDCO's fire service manager don't support the application.
The report notes that the West Kelowna RCMP responded to 169 calls for service at Okanagan Lake Resort between 2017 and 2021.
“A number of these calls relate specifically to the Lake Okanagan Tiki Beach Bar such as noise complaints, impaired boating, vehicles parked blocking the fire lane near the tiki bar, and in one case a report of someone snorting cocaine off the tiki-bar itself,” Staff. Sg. Duncan Dixon of the West Kelowna RCMP said in a letter to the RDCO.
Ross Kotscherofski, the RDCO Fire Services manager, also expressed his lack of support for the application in a letter.
“Wilson's Landing Fire Department has attended to several calls at the Beach Club Tiki Bar in 2021 for over-intoxication and drug overdose,” Kotscherofski said, adding that the location was not designed to host large numbers of people from a fire perspective.
“If a brush fire were to start at the beach location, due to the number of people, fire crews would not be able to access the fire and egress for members of the public would be difficult. This beach location was not designed to hold large gatherings or the associated vehicle parking.”
Ryan Hargreaves, the owner of the tiki bar at the Okanagan Beach Club, says neither police or fire services have expressed these concerns to him directly. He says regardless of how the LCRB eventually decides on the extension, the Okanagan Beach Club's tiki bar will remain open through the summer.
“We still have the liquor licence for the tiki bar. All this really meant was just expanding it so there's more control over the beach with who's drinking and who's not,” Hargreaves said.
“But it's not the end of the world if they don't do the expansion. The liquor licence is still there and that occupancy load is around 100 ... Either way, the tiki bar will be there and it'll be fun.”
The unique outdoor bar opened at the beginning of last month, but the weather hasn't been particularly cooperative so far this spring.
