Kamloops residents may get the chance to have their say about the ambitious Build Kamloops plan as soon as this fall.

Speaking on NL Mornings, Councillor Stephen Karpuk says that is when a referendum is likely to be held, noting the City is expected to reveal more details about the work that has been ongoing behind the scenes in the near future.

“I think we’re on track for that announcement as Councillor [Mike] O’Reilly said. We’ll see,” Karpuk said. “We got to do it right. This is one of those ones we got to just make sure we get it right the first time.”

Build Kamloops has a mandate to discuss and prioritize the cost, scope, and timelines of various projects that were identified in the Recreation Master Plan.

Those projects include the Kamloops Centre for the Arts – identified as the top priority – as well as additional ice rinks, a new leisure pool on the North Shore, and a large curling club facility to accommodate consolidation of the two curling clubs in Kamloops.

It also includes indoor field space like a soccer field or gymnasium and a new all-ages community centre, with housing potentially included in some of those facilities, if it is feasible.

Location of facilities ‘incredibly important’

Speaking on NL Mornings, Mike O’Reilly – the Chair of the Build Kamloops Select Committee – said the committee’s four working groups have been “doing a lot of heavy lifting” over the past several months.

“The biggest reason that we can’t come public with things right now is a lot of the discussion revolves around location,” O’Reilly said.

“That is the number one thing people want to know is ‘okay, what is the facility and where is it going to be?’ As you can imagine, when it comes to real estate deals, once speculation happens as to where a facility may go, then land prices increase.”

O’Reilly said he hopes to be able to share more details in the next few weeks, likely at one of the next two Build Kamloops meetings which are scheduled for June 4 and July 15 respectively.

O’Reilly also said he felt that location is “incredibly important” when it comes to building new facilities in Kamloops. Using ice rinks as an example, he said it should be easily accessible and near businesses so there can be more economic spinoff when the facilities are being used.

“Also, is it land that we already own? Is it land that we need to purchase? Is there a land swap that would happen? Can we incorporate housing into these developments? These are all things that are being looked at,” O’Reilly added.

Plan likely to be broken up into several phases

At this time, it is not clear what the scope of the announcement from the Build Kamloops Select Committee will be, or what the projects are expected to cost and how much of that will be paid for by long-term debt.

“When it does come out, it’ll be a high level picture. This is what we want to see for Build Kamloops and these are the potential locations,” O’Reilly said. “These are things that maybe we can do right away. Is there another batch maybe we go to a potential referendum or an [Alternative Approval Process] for, and then the third phase could potentially be further down the road, once the first or second phase is done.”

“This isn’t just a one-off where we’ll build one or two things, this is looking at what Kamloops needs over a long horizon. We need that long term vision so that people get that idea, ‘this is what we’re doing for our facilities to keep up with the population increase.”

Karpuk said the initial focus of the Build Kamloops plan is expected to be the Centre for the Arts and a new multi-use, four-rink ice complex.

“Should the public approve us going forward with the Build Kamloops initiative and the different development phases, I think that’s probably the best term to go with here, probably the arts centre and ice are on that first round – second round I guess is the way we’ve been told – second round of development,” Karpuk said.

“Hopefully all things going well, we’ll have something that we can bring to our community that everyone is going to be more or less happy with. Hopefully the majority.”

Numerous funding sources being eyed

Kamloops City Council has already voted to spend $7 million to complete the validation and detailed design work for the Centre for the Arts downtown, with that work expected to be completed sometime next year.

The latest estimates put that project in the neighbourhood of $120-million, which the City says will be paid through debt, as well as various government grants along with corporate and private donations.

Earlier this month, City Council voted to send a letter to Lana Popham, B.C.’s Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, and Sport, to update her on the Build Kamloops initiative while also asking for “identified opportunities for funding.”

“Hopefully we’ll be getting that money from Treasury Branch to help with the Build Kamloops initiative,” Karpuk said.

Karpuk also previously told Radio NL that the City was hoping to have these plans in place as soon as possible, so it could try and take advantage of funding opportunities ahead of the upcoming provincial election this fall.

Included in the 2024 city budget is a new $1.35-million cumulative fund paid for by tax revenue to finance the Build Kamloops plan. The City will collect an additional $1.35 million a year until 2028, for a cumulative total of $20.25 million to support future debt repayment.

“Each of the years will increase by the one per cent to a total of five per cent of property tax funding over the next five years,” David Hallinan, the City’s Corporate Services Director told Radio NL in an email.

“Impact on the residence will be $125 as one per cent of taxation equals approximately $25 for the average assessed house at $780,000.”

In March of last year, the Council also 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.

You can find more about the Build Kamloops Initiative, including the scope of the selected projects, here.

– With files from Jeff Andreas