City seeking $2.47 million from RDNO for cultural centre site

Sep 15, 2020 | 7:39 PM

The selling price has been set on the site for a proposed Greater Vernon Cultural Centre.

The City of Vernon issued a news release Tuesday evening stating council has directed administration to complete the sale of the land on the Vernon Block (Coldstream Hotel site) to the Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO), for the purpose of constructing the $40-million facility.

The Vernon Block is located at 2910 32nd Avenue.

During its meeting on Monday (Sept. 14), council directed administration to sell and transfer up to one half of the city-owned Vernon Block (approximately 33,000 square feet) to the RDNO, at the fair market value of $75 per square foot (or $2,475,000 for 33,000 square feet).

The land price was established by a third party, independent appraisal.

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“A lot of good work has gone into the Cultural Centre project recently,” said Mayor Victor Cumming. “In the last few months, elected officials and staff from the City of Vernon, the District of Coldstream, and Electoral Areas B and C have had a series of productive meetings to move the project forward. Finalizing the land sale agreement is a critical step in seeing this regional facility come to life and we are pleased to finally be at this stage of the process.”

The City of Vernon, District of Coldstream, and Areas B and C are funding partners through the RDNO, and each pays a proportionate amount of costs associated with regional services.

“What’s important for our residents to understand is that the City of Vernon has already purchased the Vernon Block land and has invested a considerable amount of time and funding to prepare the site for future development, such as off-site works,” said Cumming. “We are not asking Vernon taxpayers to purchase the land a second time. Rather, our partners in Coldstream and Areas B and C will need to pay their portion of the land cost (31.4 per cent).”

The actual location for the centre in what is now a parking lot, is still to be decided.

“The exact placement of the facility on the lot has not been determined yet. That will be part of the discussion going forward,” said Christy Poirier, communications manager for the city of Vernon.

by Pete McIntyre

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