Peachland POST YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
WWW.PEACHLANDREALESTATE.COM
The week of February 20, 2026
PEACHLAND TO PARIS Former Peachlander now giving tours in France. P.3
CULTURAL CORNERSTONE Winter Olympics hockey: eyes are glued to the set P.4
Visit our website at peachlandpost.org • Vol. 2 Issue 7
ABOUT TOWN Find out what’s going on and where it’s happening P.11
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BAPTIST CHURCH
Smaller is beautiful
Market forces take church expropriation for new firehall off the table By Jeff McDonald
P
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
arishioners and leaders at Peachland’s Baptist Church have had their prayers answered, but it wasn’t divine intervention. After months of the church pushing back against possible expropriation of the land their church sits on, District of Peachland council is scaling down plans to construct a new firehall as one component of a development that could have included other protective services and commercial and residential spaces. This means expropriating
Keith Fielding photo
The purchase of the property owned by the Peachland Baptist Church is no longer under consideration by the District of Peachland.
the Baptist Church’s property to make room for what would have been a large project with a significant footprint is no longer on the district’s table. Peachland mayor Patrick Van Minsel made the public announcement last week moments after district council voted in a
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closed meeting on a downsized approach for a new firehall to replace the current aging facility on 3rd Street. Reaction from the Baptist Church was swift and clear. “We have always publicly supported the need for a new fire hall, and we applaud the decision of the town to return to a basic
hall design that won’t displace us. This is a great decision for us, but also for the whole community,” said Baptist Church pastor Lyle Wahl in a statement posted to the church’s website a day following the district’s announcement. SEE CHURCH PAGE 7