Penticton council approves Main Street revitalization design

PENTICTON – Another phase in the revitalization of downtown is set to get underway after council gave the plan the green light Monday night.

Plans for a $4.3-million revitalization of the 100 and 200 blocks of Main Street were unveiled to city council earlier this week.

City of Penticton Director of Operations Mitch Moroziuk and Downtown Revitalization Sub-Committee Chair Barb Haynes gave council a preview of a revitalization plan that will see angle parking replaced by parallel parking in front of City Hall, paving stones installed in the 100 block and a raised multi-use area installed to provide a public square feeling near Gyro Park.

Other improvements on the street will include LED lighting, expanded electrical capability to provide more power to street vendors, and an expanded grassy area near Starbucks at the corner of Front Street and Main Street.

Replacing the angle parking with parallel parking stalls will allow for the construction of a wider sidewalk in the 100 block and a portion of the City Hall parking lot will be made available, with 18 spaces for public parking to make up for the lost angle parking spaces on the street.  

Moroziuk said the city should have information on any grant money to be provided for the work by December of this year.

Should the city succeed in obtaining a grant, tenders for the work would be issued in January 2016 and construction would start in February. Construction will take a break over the summer though and would begin again in the fall, with a completion date set for November 2016.

Moroziuk said the city could look at such options as borrowing or drawing from gas tax funding if grant funding is not available. He said the city is looking for up to $2.7 million in grant funding to help finance the project.

Council approved the revitalization design, with only Coun. Helena Konanz opposed. She felt $2 million was too much to spend on two city blocks, calling the design 'a Cadillac plan that needs to be scaled down a bit.'

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