The City of Kamloops may be able to gain some support for Build Kamloops from property owners living on the outskirts of the city, who don’t pay municipal taxes.

TNRD Director for Area L, the Knutsford Area, Doug Haughton, has confirmed he and the two other area directors for Prichard and Tobiano, have met with Build Kamloops chair Mike O’Reilly about the prospect of holding a referendum to ask if their residents will financially support Build Kamloops.

Haughton says he supports the idea, with some conditions.

“It’s got to be a people-based formula. Not land based. There’s quite a bit of land, but not a lot of people within the surrounding three regions of the TNRD,” said Haughton.

That sentiment is backed up by Area P Director Lee Morris, who represents the Pritchard area.

“I agree entirely with Director Haughton, and [Mike] Grenier I guess on that as well. It does need to be based on population and not land value, in my opinion,” said Morris.

There are just over 9,100 people living in the three electoral areas surrounding Kamloops, which is about one-tenth the population of Kamloops proper.

The idea to see if those residents would contribute to Build Kamloops was floated by Councillor Dale Bass in January.

“The reality here is whatever we build, people from outside Kamloops will come to it,” Bass said at the time. “Seems to me they should participate in the creation of it in some way, because they will benefit from it.”

Haughton told Radio NL he would also like the City of Kamloops to consider rural interests in Build Kamloops., which is meant to fast track some of the goals listed in the City’s Recreational Master Plan.

“It’s to look at building some kind of multi-purpose agri-facility somewhere down the road in one of their plans,” suggested Haughton.

At this time, Build Kamloops does not include an Agriplex, as it was not identified as a need in the Recreation Master Plan, though the City says it is a “future opportunity to explore.”

“The Recreation Master Plan was adopted in 2019 by the previous Council following community engagement at that time. The feedback and data from that engagement process is what led to the identification of the facilities in the Build Kamloops program,” a statement from the City said.

“In other words, we are implementing an adopted plan supported by formal community feedback.”

TNRD Board Chair Barbara Roden has told Radio NL that while there may be future discussions about getting Regional District residents involved with Build Kamloops, if the Electoral Areas were to reject the ask, the City of Kamloops does not have the ability to impose a financial hit on the TNRD.