A prominent cultural organization has officially come out against a proposed civic complex. The Vernon Museum and Archives’ board of directors is urging residents to oppose borrowing $30 million for a civic complex during the Jan. 26 referendum. “The whole thing needs to be revisited,” said Donna Hall, board chairman. The board doesn’t believe the proposed complex — with an art gallery, library and city offices — will provide the same benefit to the community as would a similar facility — including a museum — on the Coldstream Hotel site. Hall says a design for the Coldstream Hotel site was pursued by a cultural committee for more than a year, and there was considerable consultation with the public. “Countless productive hours and funds have just been thrown away by the present council,” she said. Hall and her board question the design of the proposed civic complex, including limited parking. “Where is the parking going to be for the visitors to the cultural venues? Most of the parking in the area is already used by city hall staff and the RCMP are spilling out on to the streets,” she said. “If the city requires more office space, move into the library/museum areas and move all of the cultural components to the old Coldstream site while keeping all of the green space around city hall.” Hall also wonders why the museum has not been included in the civic complex proposal, although city officials say expansion to the museum could occur in the next few years.“It’s just lip service because we’ve been left out of this process,” she said. “There’s thousands of dollars of artifacts stacked on top of each other, and just expanding out the back won’t help.”
Mayor Wayne Lippert defends the civic complex plans and refutes Halls’ claims. “With the Coldstream Hotel site, there was no buy-in from organizations like the library and the Greater Vernon Services Committee. When you look at the numbers, it wasn’t feasible,” he said. Lippert also insists there are other uses for the Coldstream Hotel site that could benefit the community such as a mix of retail and residential housing. “We have developers interested in doing something like that,” he said. Lippert believes an expansion to the existing building is the best solution for the museum. “The architects have looked at it and they believe the museum’s needs can be accommodated,” he said. “The museum has not been forgotten. There is an opportunity to expand it in the near future,” he said.
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EDITORIAL Jan 18 Morning Star Museum Has been Ignored
It should be no surprise to anyone at Vernon city hall that people associated with the Vernon Museum are upset over the proposed civic complex. Museum officials have been saying for years that the facility is cramped and inadequate to meet the needs of a growing community. That situation was front and centre when a cultural complex was proposed a few years ago for the Coldstream Hotel site. However, those plans were abandoned by current council and it has opted, instead, to go with a civic building next to city hall. It would include room for the library, art gallery and administration offices, but absolutely nothing for the museum. With the museum publicly making some noise, there are now promises from city hall to address the situation. But those promises are vague at best. There has been no commitment of dollars or a firm timeline established. One also has to question if merely expanding the existing museum facility is the best route. Will that take care of long-term space needs and is it possible to suitably retrofit an old structure with the latest in atmosphere control (something required to preserve artifacts)? And with the proposed civic complex taking up so much of the site, will there be adequate room for the museum to build out? Certainly one can accuse the museum’s board of directors of being self-absorbed and not looking at the big picture when they urge residents to vote against the civic complex Jan. 26. But perhaps such extreme measures are unavoidable when you’ve been ignored for years.
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