New name and price approved for Memorial Parkade

KELOWNA – Despite a jump in final price to more than $19 million for the Memorial Parkade, Kelowna city councillors had little say about the increase.

Instead, what little debate councillors had was centred around the aesthetics of the 6.5-storey structure, slated to begin construction this summer in time for completion next summer.

Coun. Luke Stack praised the project but was concerned about the back end of the building, which will loom large over Kasugai Gardens.

Infrastructure director Allan Newcombe assured Stack the butt end of the building and the properties around it had been considered during design.

“What the public is expecting is that when they come downtown for a hockey game, that there’s lots of parking,” a mollified Stack said.

Mayor Colin Basran was happy to hear the increased price came with 128 extra parking spaces, although he believed there would still be people who complain about the lack of parking downtown.

“We could build a parkade on every corner and it still wouldn’t be enough for some people,” he added.

Council unanimously approved the request by Newcombe to make Memorial Parkade the official name of the structure as well as the request to take the additional $3.4 million from the downtown parking reserve.

The new structure will provide a total of 566 parking stalls — 139 public parking stalls, 380 dedicated to Interior Health Authority staff from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, another 30 reserved around the clock for health authority staff, plus 17 stalls for City of Kelowna fleet vehicles.

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.