West Kelowna City Council is ready to finalize construction plans on a new city hall, if approved by voters.

The city still has to sign a construction contract with Strategic BC Investments Inc. before they start work on the 32,215 square feet municipal hall.

Photo Credit: City of West Kelowna.A current picture of the proposed West Kelowna city hall.West Kelowna residents will have their say on the matter in an upcoming Alternative Approval Process (AAP. Through that, they can either approve or deny the borrowing of up to $10.5 million to construct the new City Hall, part of the much bigger West Kelowna Civic Centre Project.

“The Civic Centre project has been a key focus of Council’s attention since 2013 and, after a great deal of hard work by a number of people, we are very pleased with the proposal that we are presenting for consideration by West Kelowna taxpayers,” said Mayor Doug Findlater, in a statement. “From the beginning, Council has wanted to invest in much more than just a City Hall.

“We wanted to put our money where our mouths are and kick start revitalization with our investment and we believe we will do exactly that with the West Kelowna Civic Centre project.”

The West Kelowna Civic Centre Project is a public-private partnership involving privately-owned land at 3641 Elliott Road. The land ownership will be transferred to the City of West Kelowna once all construction agreements go through.

Strategic BC Investments Inc. has proposed to build an office building and two residential buildings as well as a public plaza on the same site, also to be approved by taxpayers.

In December 2015, Interior Health officially agreed to locate its office in the building.

The city of West Kelowna estimates economic benefits of a new Civic Centre at $49.13 million, and the construction costs have been estimated at $31.9 million.

“The vision Council had is within our reach and we are particularly excited about the prospect that we will not only have more people living and working in West Kelowna’s downtown, but there will be centralized health services with room to grow, meeting another of our community’s long-time wishes,” continued Findlater.

In 2012, the city’s temporary facility in the Mt. Boucherie Community Centre reached capacity and Council was advised that it would have to expand.Photo Credit: KelownaNow.

The mayor said they’ve been able to fit the repayment of the debt within their financial plan, and doesn’t expect the build to up property taxes in the future.  

City Staff is preparing the borrowing bylaw which will be presented to Council at an upcoming meeting. The bylaw will need to be approved by the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development.

A full communication plan will also be presented to Council at an upcoming meeting.