The Kamloops Accommodation Association is hoping to see some changes to a proposal to grant a 10-year revitalization tax exemption to hotels and motels that are redeveloped.

President Angela Tasker says the association is all for redevelopment of hotels and motels in Kamloops, but only if it is done right.

“We’re just not happy at this point with the present bylaw because it doesn’t allow for us to tear down an existing hotel that may be needs to be replaced and rebuild a new hotel and still get that exemption unless we are doing multi-family housing either with a hotel or instead of it,” she said.

“There are a limited amount of sites that are great for hospitality in this City and the ones that we have, it would be better to revitalize them and keep our inventory.”

While hotels across Kamloops are set to qualify for the proposed tax exemption, it could lead to the redevelopment of the Columbia Street West corridor, which has long been eyed.

However, Tasker tells NL News that without any changes, the proposed bylaw could lead to a drop in the total number of hotel rooms in Kamloops, which is currently estimated to be about 3,300.

“We have the Tournament Capital Brand to live up to and we want to, we love to host big events and without the inventory of hotel rooms, it is going to be a lot harder for us,” Tasker said. “A lot of times when there is a bid for a large event, they need to know that there is a certain amount of inventory available for them.”

“And yes, some of the motels might have tenants in them right now that are monthly, but the majority of hotels have daily guests.”

Tasker says the Kamloops Accommodation Association has raised their issues with Kamloops City staff, and they’re hoping to see those changes made before the bylaw is ratified.

“We had some conversations and we involved Tourism Kamloops as well because it will affect them as well. We will lose marketing dollars if we have less hotel rooms in the City,” she said. “I just think maybe there was a misconnection somewhere in there so we just want to get that corrected before the bylaw goes through.”

The proposed tax exemption for the redevelopment of hotels and motels was part of a larger discussion on the bylaws currently in place downtown and on the North Shore. Staff are also proposing a ten-year tax exemption for all new commercial daycare facilities across the City.

The final vote on all of the tax-exemption bylaws is expected to take place on Feb. 15.