The Kamloops downtown master plan is in Phase 3, and some of what people want is sensible housing development and a more pedestrian-friendly downtown.

That’s according to Councillor Mike O’Reilly, who says they got input from people both new to the downtown as well as those who’ve lived there for decades at an open house last night.

“You know it morphs and changes specifically based on the people that show up and their feedback,” he said. “Staff put out the beginning stage and said ‘what do you want to see downtown?'”

“This isn’t staff driven, this is community driven, and so yeah, it definitely morphs and changes.”

As for what some of the responses have been to date?

“Possibly more duplexes and different office space,” O’Reilly noted. “More public gathering space as well.”

“I think a big change that we will see is going to be on transportation in the downtown core, to make it a little more walkable for people here already. There’s an avenue to try and get the semi trucks out of the downtown core, which is always been a big push as well.”

To date, there haven’t been many “no’s” from Kamloopsians.

“It’s a lot of people wanting to learn and people wanting to give their input and trying for it to be sensitive.,” he added. “Whatever is being done, that it fits into Kamloops and what Kamloops is, and not just a white elephant or an eyesore here and there. They want everything to fit into place.”

O’Reilly says people can still have their say online until March 18, noting the plan keeps changing based on the input they get.

He expects a draft of the plan to go before city council later this year.