CommunityPlus Communities Westbank - West Kelowna

About Westbank-West Kelowna, BC

January 14, 2021January 24, 2021 Community Plus

Westbank is part of the City of West Kelowna and boasts a popular waterfront at Gellatly Bay on Lake Okanagan with a new wharf, jumping platform, zipline, floating platform and a 2 km promenade linking various beaches and parks.

World-renowned wineries dot the region with some offering amazing food as well as wines. Outdoor activities are in abundance here with cycling and hiking trails throughout the valley as are an array of watersports and in the winter skiing is popular on the local mountains.

Westbank is one of the communities within the City of West Kelowna in the province of British Columbia. It is 12 km to the west of Kelowna. Other communities in West Kelowna include Casa Loma, West Kelowna Estates, Shannon Lake, Smith Creek, Glenrosa, Rose Valley and Lakeview Heights. Westbank is at the southern end of the municipality.

Westbank was for many years an unincorporated area within the Central Okanagan Regional District. Following a December 2007 governance referendum, it became a neighbourhood within what is now the City of West Kelowna. It has no legal borders since it is a neighbourhood and opinions vary as to exactly where Westbank begins and ends. The City of West Kelowna has a total population of about 35,818[ as of January 2020.

When a post office was opened in 1902 it was given a name indicative of its location on Okanagan LakeThe name was suggested by John Davidson who arrived in the district in 1892.

Self-Government municipal regulatory powers have been given by treaty to the Westbank First Nation (WFN). Westbank First Nation spans 5,340 acres of Reservation land, separated into five land parcels.
Location

Westbank is located on Hwy 97 near the western shore of Okanagan Lake in the Thompson Okanagan region of British Columbia, 16 km (10 mi) northeast of Peachland and 14 km (9 mi) southwest of Kelowna. There are three public beach accesses along Okanagan Lake.

There are four public launches into the Okanagan Lake.