The mayor of Kamloops says a proposal to redevelop Cooney Bay is “miles” away from coming to city council.
Ken Christian was commenting on a proposal to turn the former Padova property into a new community, with 1,500 housing units, commercial and farm land.
“It’s exactly that, it’s a proposal. And I’ve lived in Kamloops long enough to have heard many, many proposals for the Tranquille facilities. The challenge they’re currently dealing with is a challenge for the agricultural land commission,” Christian says.
“Then they have to look at First Nations approvals, then they have to eventually get a plan that would come before council in a public hearing. And we would listen to the public at that point in time and make a free and open decision with respect to it.”
Property owner and project manager of Ignition Group, Tim McLeod, recently had a study done that says the project would bring an estimated $608 million to the Kamloops economy.
McLeod says the study, done by Urbanics Consultants, says the project would bring $5.4 million to the city’s annual tax base and $330,000 to the Thompson-Nicola Regional District’s tax base. He says the study says construction would bring 310 full-time jobs per year over the 14-year buildout, and 441 permanent jobs after that from new businesses.
While adding residential and commercial space, McLeod says the project would also include a community centre, a winery, a waterfront inn and pub, a subsidized daycare, a new public park on Cooney Bay, a boat launch, and bus service connecting to the rest of the city. He says there would also be a wild salmon conversation program and “extensive” public trails in the area.
If the Agricultural Land Commission supports the development application, Kamloops council would then have to decide on rezoning the land, and a public hearing would happen beforehand.
Kamloops city staff said last December opportunities for preserving historic buildings will be looked at if the development plan is supported by the ALC. The Tranquille on the Lake neighbourhood plans also outlines the soil under those buildings would need to be remediated before future development goes ahead, and the plan also says protecting the natural environment is required.
McLeod also has said several of the buildings at Padova would be preserved as heritage buildings, saying several are in good shape and can be maintained. Padova City was used as a provincial institution between 1907 and 1983.
