The City of Kamloops and the operator of seniors housing being built downtown have come to a resolution about the soon-to-be-built 6th Avenue bike lane.

The Centre for Seniors Information will operate a new tower at 6th and Victoria, which will have 112 units of housing and ground floor commercial space.

Brenda Prevost, the operations manager with CSI Kamloops, says she spoke to mayor Ken Christian after learning just recently the city was planning to build a bike lane on 6th Avenue instead of 5th.

She says city staff asked for the building’s entrance to be on Sixth Avenue, before a protected bike lane was proposed.

“We were moved off of Victoria Street and onto the side street initially, because they didn’t want us to have designated parking on Victoria Street. So we had to switch the entrance of our building from Victoria over to 6th. But now, with the bike path, we’re regretting that we did that.”

“So we were concerned about cutting off parking directly in front of our facility. Because it’s going to force those with mobility issues and those who are visually impaired to work their way down from Victoria Street.”

Prevost says the city has assured that the building will have two dedicated parking spots out front, for pick-up and drop-off, for Handi-Dart busses, taxis and other vehicles. She says this set up isn’t perfect but it’s a workable solution.

“It was a surprise, we weren’t really aware of it happening. I think the city kind of changed their plans on the fly. So I’m glad that we caught it, and we had an opportunity to discuss it with them and work out some form of resolution.”

The seniors tower will be opening later this year, while the 6th Avenue bike lane could also be built this year if the city is successful in obtaining grant funding.