Planning on how the city can incorporate recommendations from the city’s Asset and Amenity Management Project will soon begin in Penticton.
City council gave their approval for staff to begin the next phase of work on turning those recommendations into actual plans for a consolidated public safety and emergency services building in Downtown Penticton, a consolidated public arts and culture centre, a twin-arena connected to the South Okanagan Events Centre and upgrades to City Hall.
Coun. James Miller cast the lone vote in opposition to the project proceeding.
During the presentation, the city’s general manager of community services Anthony Haddad noted that the recommendations are looking at providing facilities that would last and provide the community with service for 50 to 70 years, not just 20 years into the future.
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The first recommendation and project that will be looked at will be a single public safety centre with fire, bylaw, community policing and the city’s emergency operations centre located in Downtown Penticton. This project received the most support out of the city’s initial public engagement process.
The approval from council gave staff the green light to build up plans that would cover the scope, schedule, budget, resourcing and community engagement necessary to proceed with the four key recommendations in the projects.
Haddad told council that one of the potential things the city would look at with their plan for the safety centre might include the possibility of incorporating housing into the design,
“There’s really interesting examples throughout the province where that is taking shape, and then we look at the most efficient use of our downtown land,” said Haddad. “A two-storey building versus a 10-storey building for example. We’ve got a lot of needs on our facilities-side, but is there an opportunity to look at a partnership opportunity, those are some of the things we’ll be looking at.”
The next phase of work also includes looking at site alternatives, needs analysis, financial impacts, facility concepts and funding options for the project.
Coun. Miller did not speak to his opposition during his opportunity to comment on the staff’s presentation, but suggested that they consider looking at the use of a polling company ahead of future large decisions to gather feedback.
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