One block of Vernon’s 30 Avenue closing for dining this summer

As of July 1, the 2900 block of Vernon’s 30 Avenue will be closed to vehicle to allow dining and entertainment on the street.

That will come at a cost of $50,000 to the city.

“Once businesses see what a great result we’ll get, it will spread down 30th,” Coun. Scott Anderson said as Vernon city council unanimously supported the project today, June 21. “I’m very excited about this.”

About 85 per cent of businesses in the 2900 block supported a full closure. A similar closure was proposed for the 3000 block but 52 per cent of those businesses were opposed so nothing will happen there this summer.

The city’s costs include relocating planters ($3,200), signage ($4,800), midblock wheelchair ramps ($3,350), increased sweeping and litter control ($2,375).

The biggest single cost item ($5,000) could be to rent, clean and empty portable washrooms but those will only be brought in if needed, city staff said.

The city will also transfer $8,000 to the Downtown Vernon Association to help pay for “programming, activation and animation” and the city is expected to lose $8,700 in parking revenues over the 9.5-week closure that runs to Sept. 7.

By contrast, Kelowna will be closing four blocks of its main downtown street, Bernard Avenue, for the summer as well, for a total cost of about $103,000.


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Rob Munro

Rob Munro has a long history in journalism after starting an underground newspaper in Whitehorse called the Yukon Howl in 1980. He spent five years at the 100 Mile Free Press, starting in the darkroom, moving on to sports and news reporting before becoming the advertising manager. He came to Kelowna in 1989 as a reporter for the Kelowna Daily Courier, and spent the 1990s mostly covering city hall. For most of the past 20 years he worked full time for the union representing newspaper workers throughout B.C. He’s returned to his true love of being a reporter with a special focus on civic politics

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