City Hall
Brent’s Grist Mill heritage site deteriorating quickly
KELOWNA - What do you do when your heritage is crumbling faster than than you can review it? Brent's Grist Mill, one of the city’s premier heritage sites, is rapidly crumbling and cannot wait for council’s heritage review to be fixed, according to a consultant’s report. “So it’s a catch-22 scenario. If we don’t spend the...
High-risk water pipe on Dilworth fast-tracked for replacement
KELOWNA - A dodgy water main, the only water link for dozens of homes on top of Dilworth Mountain in Kelowna, is being replaced before something more serious happens than a burst pipe. “We had a complete failure a couple of months ago and when we looked at the pipe, pulled it out of the...
Kelowna city councillors to decide on name for new police station
KELOWNA - The proposed name for the new City of Kelowna police services building is just that, City of Kelowna Police Services. Kelowna city council are being asked to approve the name for the new police station on Clement Avenue, or come up with an alternative. The city is seeking a higher profile on the new...
What happens when your music becomes noise in Kelowna
KELOWNA - Nothing spurs political action like personal experience. When Kelowna city bylaw officers shut down a garden concert last weekend by local legends The Cruzeros, city councillor Charlie Hodge was in the front row. “It was not over the top. The didn’t even have the full band. There were no drums,” Hodge says. When...
Former New Delhi restaurant building in Vernon to be demolished
VERNON - There will soon be one more parking lot, and one less building downtown Vernon. The city owned building at the corner of 29 Street and 30 Avenue near the Vernon library which many knew as the New Delhi Indian Restaurant, is getting demolished. There was a fire in the building back in December,...
Pet pig flies in Vernon; councillor asks what’s next?
VERNON - It was an unusual case that some city councillors fear might not be so uncommon any more. A Vernon family desperate to keep their pet pig Felix pleaded with city council for an exception to a bylaw prohibiting swine on city property — unless on designated farm land — and got their wish...
No busting the Kelowna buskers: Play on, city says
SECURITY MADE ERROR TELLING YOUNG MAN TO MOVE ON FROM PIANO IN THE PARK KELOWNA - Maybe he just doesn’t like the piano. A young man playing the piano in Stuart Park was asked to move along on Canada Day after a security guard hired by the city to patrol the area came along and...
It’s taken 13 years but Central Green in Kelowna is starting to take shape
KELOWNA - It’s been 13 years since the school that once occupied the site known as Central Green closed down and now the second affordable housing project slated for the old Kelowna Secondary School grounds has began construction. Ki-Low-Na Friendship Society and the Ministry of Housing broke ground on the $16-million project this week. The...
City borrows $57 milllion for cop shop, parkade construction
KELOWNA - The city has signed on the dotted line, borrowing $57 million to fund the construction of the RCMP police service building and the construction and expansion of the Memorial and Library Parkades. Construction of the 100,000-square-foot police services building by contractor Bird Design-Build has yet to break ground on the site at Clement...
Kelowna makes a push outdoors
KELOWNA - Even locals don’t know all the best places to hike, swim and bike — that’s the premise behind the Active By Nature campaign, which will use advanced route signage, a video and an interactive website to promote Kelowna’s outdoor infrastructure. “A proven and effective way to inform residents about our network and to...
Wine and fruit waste prompts Kelowna treatment facility upgrade
KELOWNA - The city is looking at upgrading the Brandt’s Creek Trade Waste Treatment facility in a bid to reduce the amount of biosolids it produces and the cost of hauling them away. Staff are recommending the city pay $450,000 for a centrifuge to be installed at the facility located in the North End industrial...
Old Western Star plant could soon meet the wrecker’s ball
KELOWNA - The last vestiges of Western Star Trucks, a manufacturing success story in Kelowna, could soon be meeting the wreckers ball. Owner of the site on Enterprise Way, 3752 Investments Ltd., has applied for a permit to raze the former Western Star truck and replace it with a Lowes home improvement store and garden...
Upswing in payroll at Vernon city hall
VERNON - There’s been a hike in payroll at the City of Vernon. Staff salaries went up over half a million dollars last year, according to financial information released in a 2014 annual report. The city shelled out more than $21.7 million in pay and expenses for its employees in 2014, up nearly $520,000 over 2013. Among...
Family with prohibited pet pig appeals to Vernon council
VERNON - This little piggy wants to stay home, but a little known Vernon bylaw stands in the way. In the hope of keeping their pet pig Felix, a local family is asking Vernon council for a variance to the Animal Regulation and Animal Pound Bylaw, which states swine cannot be kept within the city,...
Vernon debuts new city brand: ‘Activate Life’
VERNON - McDonald’s has ‘I’m lovin’ it’, NIKE has ‘Just do it’ and now the City of Vernon is embracing the power of the slogan with the new tagline, ‘Activate Life.’ It’s part of a branding initiative to market and promote Vernon among locals and tourists alike. The new tagline replaces the former ‘Vernon Make...