Council awards city hall project design contract

West Kelowna council has approved spending almost a million dollars to proceed with project design plans for its first new city hall.

The building would have 45-thousand square feet, 30,000 of which would be owned by the city and 15,000 owned by the Okanagan Regional Library.

The timeline is to have it built and open by winter 2022.

The location is the Westbank Centre at 3731 Old Okanagan Highway and adjacent to the city’s Johnson Bentley Memorial Aquatic Centre (JBMAC),

Council has also said a new skate-park will be built as the building will take up the current skate-park location at Old Okanagan and Dobbin.

“Now that construction of the Rose Valley Water Treatment Plant is well underway, along with our expanded road and sidewalk programs in the city, council can proceed with other priority projects, including our first City Hall/Library building with the Okanagan Regional Library Board,” said Mayor Gord Milsom. “This is an exciting equity partnership that benefits our community. And, we’re looking forward to further developing our community partnerships to make the Westbank Centre a vibrant civic-centre area that serves the Greater Westside.”

“The Okanagan Regional Library Board is very excited about this opportunity and unanimously approved the project,” said Karla Kozakevich, Chair of the Okanagan Regional Library Board. “The new location is a fantastic opportunity for Okanagan Regional Library to expand the library service and show the people across the Greater Westside that the Library continues to be at the heart of the community.”