Vernon residents may be asked to vote in a referendum to approve funding for a multi-million dollar civic building project. According to a report declassified at Monday’s council meeting, the three-storey building could cost $28 million, including a new library and two-level parkade. Vernon mayor Wayne Lippert said the Vernon Public Art Gallery may also be moved into the building. “It’s not just a library it’s also a civic building,” he said. Lippert said the building cost may be as low as $18 million depending on how much parking is included. If the city is forced to lean heavily on taxpayers to fund the project a referendum would be needed, he said.“It’s way too early to tell what the costs will be; it depends on what the needs of our partners are,” he said.
According to the cost estimates for the project, the library portion will cost $8.46 million, the parkade will cost $5.35 million and the second and third floors will cost $5.08 million each. Other costs include nearly $3 million in fees, $690,000 in site redevelopment and $208,000 in developer charges. Coun. Juliette Cunningham said the building will be funded by partneringwith the Okanagan Regional Library and possibly the RCMP, who may use some office space on the top two floors. She said the city is also counting on grants to pay for the building which may be completed by the end of 2008. “There are a lot of questions that need to be answered before we even break ground,” Cunningham said. “We’re actually in the early planning stages.”
The next step is to present the report to the Okanagan Regional Library Board for approval. According to Coun. Patrick Nicol, the library board will have about $500,000 set aside for the project by 2008. The report was prepared in part by Edmund Lee, who also drafted the plan for a cultural complex at the former Coldstream Hotel site. The estimated cost of locating the library, museum and art gallery at the site was between $24 million and $39 million and council shelved the plan because it was too expensive. Lippert said the new proposal is more suitable because it will give the city more options than the cultural complex would have. “We’re getting a lot more for a lot less money,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment