
Business owners across parts of Kamloops are now able to say whether they support spending around $4 million to support a pair of Business Improvement Associations in the city.
The City has launched a counter-petition process to decide whether to spend around $1.9 million to continue financing the operation of the North Shore BIA for the next five years, as well as the newly-formed East Kamloops BIA, which is in-line for about $2.1 million over five years for its start-up.
- Funding breakdown for the NSBIA between 2025 and 2029. (Photo via City of Kamloops)
- Funding breakdown for the EKBIA between 2025 and 2029. (Photo via City of Kamloops)
North Shore BIA Executive Director Jeremy Heighton says they’ve already done a lot of preliminary work, hiring a third party consultant to garner feedback from their members.
“Have the conversation with them about what do they want. What do they want moving forward. Are they happy with what we’re doing, etcetera, etcetera. Literally, we had no negative feedback at all in that process,” said Heighton. “We don’t anticipate getting to 10 percent threshold at all. In fact, we suspect, as per most times we do a renewal, two or three negative feedbacks, but the rest will all be positive.”
Heighton, who has been helping the East Kamloops BIA get started, says the founders of that organization deserve a chance to get going.
“They see the value for the boots on the door step. Literally, we’re in door steps every single day. I’m on corners, as an example, every morning at 7am, dealing with people who are displaced, or there’s a broken window, let’s get RCMP to respond,” said Heighton.
Any business owner within the areas served by the BIAs who is opposed to the City spending the money has until August 23rd to submit a vote to City Hall in the negative.
- The area served by the North Shore Business Improvement Association. (Photo via City of Kamloops)
- The area served by the East Kamloops Business Improvement Association. (Photo via City of Kamloops)