West Kelowna close to finalizing deal for new City Hall

WEST KELOWNA – West Kelowna is taking the next step in the process of building a new city hall and civic centre.

The city is wrapping up negotiations with a developer to build the complex and now will ask taxpayers for permission to borrow up to $10.5 million, according to a media release.

“This is a key step in the process and, early in the new year, council will decide how we will proceed, either through a referendum or an alternative approval process," mayor Doug Findlater says in the release.

The proposal includes a new city hall as well as two residential buildings, an office building and a public plaza.

Strategic Development Group has a tentative partnership with Interior Health to lease a portion of the office building to become the new site of the West Kelowna Health Centre.

“This larger new space will allow us to continue to serve our existing clients as well as provide us with a space large enough to accommodate future growth,” Interior Health community services administrator Bryan Redford says in the release.

Findlater says costs for the project will come from the already-established 10-year-plan and won’t mean a tax increase for residents.

Mount Boucherie Community Hall, where West Kelowna government has been located since 2009, will be restored if voters approve the loan.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.