Residents to vote on $42M loan for new RCMP building

KELOWNA – Residents of Kelowna will soon get the chance to vote on whether or not the city will be allowed to borrow $42.3M for a new RCMP building on Clement Ave.

An alternate approval process (AAP) was granted last week, and residents of Kelowna will have until March 28 to vote. For the process to go forward, more than 90 per cent of eligible voters must agree.

The project was first announced at the end of November, when councillors agreed with the local RCMP that the current building does not meet standards set by a Municipal Policing Agreement.

The funding strategy proposes the City secure a municipal loan for up to $42,384,000 from the Municipal Finance Authority of B.C., amortized over 30 years, with another $5.6 million to come from reserve funds and other outside funding sources.

“It is important to remember that this facility is more complex than office space – it is part prison, part high-tech lab, part library and part armory or high-security storage facility," Infrastructure Division Director for the City of Kelowna, John Vos says. "It is operational 24/7 and required to be built to a post-disaster standard, which means after the occurrence of a seismic event, the building needs to not only remain standing, but needs to remain fully operational.”

The new building, if approved by voters, would replace the current RCMP detachment on Doyle Avenue that is more than 50 years old. Construction would begin in 2015, with completion expected late 2017.

For more information on the proposed building, visit this website.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infotelnews.ca, call (250) 718-0428 or tweet @AdamProskiw.