Michele Hill of Hill Environmental in Armstrong which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. (submitted photo)

By Vernon Matters Staff

shared workspace

Business finds way to use extra space to benefit the community

Apr 9, 2024 | 7:00 AM

An Armstrong business owner is celebrating a milestone by making a change to support the community.

Michele Hill has operated Hill Environmental for the past 30 years, working out of the former Star Theatre building in the city’s downtown.

With Hill Environmental offices on the top floor and storage in the basement, Hill converted the ground level of the old theatre into a shared workspace complete with hot desk rentals, boardrooms and even an office for Community Futures North Okanagan and WorkBC.

“I started my business 30 years ago because of Community Futures, and the organization is very dear to my heart,” said Hill, who served on the board of directors as chair for nine years. “When I came and looked at the building over a year ago, I knew there was way more space than I could use. I thought, ‘Well, what can I do?’”

At the time, Community Futures did not have any permanent office space in the community. It had its main office in downtown Vernon and satellite offices in Lumby and Enderby, and only borrowed desk space at an Armstrong non-profit. Now, Community Futures has a permanent home in Armstrong just below Hill’s office. But, even still, Hill had a surplus of space.

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“I heard about the desk rental space in Vernon, The VIEW, and we really had no opportunities like that in Armstrong,” Hill said. “I had suffered through all the struggles of working at home myself, and I knew this was something I wanted to do for the community.”

Now settled into the new office and thrilled to have an open and inviting space for entrepreneurs like her, Hill and her staff of four remain focused on the work that helped Hill Environmental make a name for itself 30 years ago: helping to protect the environment through impact and riparian assessments.

“I’m proud of the company that I’ve run for 30 years and the work we’ve done across the province,” Hill remarked. “Hill Environmental started from a passion for the outdoors and an understanding that everything is connected. I still get comments to this day from people saying how passionate I am about my work.”

The business provides a variety of freshwater fisheries, aquatic habitat and wildlife habitat-related services.

As Hill and the team work to develop an open pond in Armstrong and rehabilitate creeks across the Okanagan, the owner says the team is thrilled to be more visible in the community.

“It went fast, really fast. Looking back, I thought it can’t be our 30th year already, there’s no way,” Hill laughs. “But as we think about the future, we’re focused on expanding, being able to employ more staff and to do more to support our community.”

For more on Hill Environmental, visit their website.

by Vernon Matters Staff

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