Brandt’s Creek Revitalization

The area around Brandt’s Creek alongside Weddell Place is developing quickly, so we have a one-time opportunity to create green space for future generations.

Realizing this ambitious vision for daylighting and revitalizing Brandt’s Creek as a landscape-scale eco-artwork would result in: 

• A signature environmental, cultural and technical achievement for the City of Kelowna
• A bird sanctuary and wildlife corridor connecting Okanagan Lake and the popular Rotary Marsh to the Glenmore Highlands
• An effective flood mitigation zone capable of purifying stormwater runoff and, medium-long term, absorbing freshets diverted from Mill Creek
• A potential spawning site for endangered kokanee salmon
• An attractive beginning – or end – to the Okanagan Rail Trail
• A perfect complement to the breweries, wineries and other amenities in the area
• An exceptional public space for curation by the Kelowna Art Gallery and the forthcoming UBC Okanagan Gallery
• An unparalleled site for outdoor education in a transformed, and continually shifting, urban environment
• A magnet for ecologically-orientated small businesses
• A unique green space at the heart of the city

The process would be as important as the outcome. An inclusive design, implementation and stewardship plan would ideally involve the City of Kelowna, West Bank First Nation, students from local schools, Okanagan College and UBC Okanagan, as well as the unhoused community, some of whom presently occupy the temporary Outdoor Sheltering Site beside the Creek. 

What are we asking of the City?

Whilst the present proposal focuses on Brandt’s Creek alongside Weddell Place, long-term planning would eventually revitalize the Creek and its riparian zone all the way from Bankhead School to the Rotary Marsh. 

Thus, first, we ask Council to consider any redevelopment proposals adjacent to Brandt’s Creek in light of the need to increase the size of the riparian zone and associated green space wherever possible. The section alongside Brant Avenue, for example, has less set-back than present bylaws would require. City planners could be directed to seek cost-free quid pro quo arrangements in future. 

Second, we envisage this revitalization as part of the City’s commitment to end long-term homelessness. Besides potential institutional collaborators such as UBC Okanagan, West Bank First Nation and BC Wildlife Trust, we urge that people transitioning out of homelessness be involved at every stage. Whilst the City’s objective might eventually result in the closure of the Outdoor Sheltering Site #4, the revitalization of Brandt’s Creek should be a positive development for that community as its members move into permanent housing. There must be no ‘green gentrification’. Dr Garrard has discussed with Wayne Wilson, ED of the Central Okanagan Land Trust, the possibility that Brandt’s Creek could be a board-operated trust, enabling direct participation of representatives of these stakeholders. 

Kelowna is a small city that accomplishes big things in terms of art and culture, thanks to robust support from the City, the university, and civic society. The Official Community Plan reflects the understanding that densification is good for urban culture, as well as being more sustainable, and yet intensive development makes ‘restoration’ of Brandt’s Creek an illusion. ‘Revitalization’, therefore, is how we describe our proposal, which means re-imagining the creek and its environs as a landscape-scale work of eco-art. The design phase should engage a landscape artist such as Stacy Levy or Andy Goldsworthy – someone who works with water respectfully to achieve both beauty and (flood-preventing, water-purifying) utility. Furthermore, our visualization above includes multi-purpose sites that could be used for sculpture, performance or installation artworks – rather like the ‘fourth plinth’ of Trafalgar Square in London, which hosts various commissioned artworks for varying periods of time. The sites could be jointly curated by the Kelowna Art Gallery and the new UBC Gallery located on the ground floor of the downtown campus. 

More specific asks reflected in the visualization include converting Weddell Place to one lane/one way so the Rail Trail can be relocated to the south side of the road (with a barrier). The revised route would intersect with an active transportation overpass and viewing platform connecting the North End to Ethel Street, the City’s cross-town cycling highway. Closure of Baillie Avenue alongside the riparian zone would yield additional space for green space, or for amenities such as food trucks. 

It is an ambitious vision – but so are building a regional university college into a world-class university campus; transforming a disused railway into a 52km bike path; ending long-term homelessness; and shifting a city known for its car culture and urban sprawl towards a more sustainable growth model. If our vision for Brandt’s Creek can reach anything like the accomplishment of these still-unrealized objectives, it will be a source of enormous pride for the city – and the City.

(With thanks to Dr Madeline Donald for her ground-breaking, and re-animating, research: https://news.ok.ubc.ca/2024/04/08/a-hidden-waterway-comes-alive-through-community-art/)