It’s been about nine months since the Build Kamloops committee was first struck, and at least one member of the Conceptual team would like to see more frequent meetings to speed work along.

Stephen Karpuk was a guest on NL Mornings where he spoke to the feeling that some in the community have that not a lot of progress is being made when it comes to building new recreational facilities in Kamloops.

“It feels like we’re kind of moving a little bit too slow,” Karpuk said, noting the committee began its work in September last year.

“I’ve made a suggestion and [Councillor Mike O’Reilly, the chair of the Build Kamloops Committee] is open to it that we’re going to push our group to get a little bit more frequency. Given the people involved, it’ll obviously take some opportunity for them to find room in their schedules to make this happen.”

The City has begun to gather feedback around the overall Build Kamloops plan, which also includes a new leisure pool on the North Shore, additional ice rinks, and a large curling facility to accommodate consolidation of both current curling clubs.

Karpuk says there is a need to move the conceptual phase forward more quickly so that the City can have plans and plans in place to try and take advantage of funding opportunities ahead of the next provincial election this fall.

He also said it would allow City Council to move the ball forward before their term comes to an end in Oct. 2026.

“I think we need to increase the frequency of the group that I have as liaison as a working group here and that is build concept,” Karpuk said. “We are looking at what are we going to do? Where are we going to do it? What is it going to look like is more important.”

“If we build four sheets of ice, can we build it with an indoor soccer field on the top and a running track or a space big enough to hold indoor baseball, because air space is a premium.”

In January, Karpuk said the Build Kamloops Conceptual Team is also looking at bolstering the recreational projects said projects with additional infrastructure.

“We’re looking at the incorporation of possibly housing into some of these projects so that we can address some out housing needs, certainly in the downtown and other parts of the city,” Karpuk said, at the time.

What he did not reveal as part of his report was possible locations for the projects, and what cost implications there might be.

In February, City staff said the Kamloops Centre for the Arts – which was identified as the top priority in the Recreation Master Plan – was able to “proceed much faster than the other priorities identified for Build Kamloops” because of the “comprehensive conceptual design work” done by the Fawcett family.

“As I pointed out to Councillor O’Reilly, we need to get this group further down the road out of any of the groups,” Karpuk said.

“This is the one that has to have that meat and potatoes set before us before we can figure out what the plate is gonna look like.”

City council has given tentative approval to using one per cent or $1.35-million in tax revenue from the 2024 budget to support future debt repayment that would be required to finance the Build Kamloops plan.

In March of last year, the City allocated $1-million of its nearly $15.7-million share of the provincial Growing Communities grant towards the Build Kamloops initiative, with another approximately $4.3-million unallocated at this time.

– With files from Jeff Andreas