Penticton’s economic outlook appears extremely promising for 2011

SUSAN McIVER/Special to The Herald  Friday, December 31, 2010
 Economic development officer David Arsenault is working to ensure a prosperous New Year for Penticton and area residents.   To help reach this goal Arsenault and colleagues at Penticton Economic Development Services have developed a number of initiatives to attract, enhance and retain business in Penticton.   Imagine Penticton was recently launched to tell the world about business opportunities. “I‘ve received many calls, including from a Korean firm looking for a large warehouse and also from a large manufacturer of solar panels,” said Arsenault.   He is quick to point out that Penticton has an excellent national and international reputation as a place to do business.   Competitive Alternatives, KPMG‘s guide to international business location, ranked Penticton as the lowest cost place to conduct manufacturing in the Pacific North American region.  Penticton was also listed among BC‘s top  investment towns and BC‘s top 10 growth towns for 2009 by the Real Estate Investment Network.  A major initiative of Penticton‘s development services is the economic investment zone strategy which offers tax incentives and reductions on development cost charges and building permits for construction of new businesses and the redevelopment of existing businesses in the city.  To qualify for the incentives project construction must commence prior to December 31, 2011 and have final approval on or before December 31, 2013.  Arsenault sees the current economic problems in the United Kingdom and Ireland as a potential boon to the Okanagan.  “There are many thousands of well educated and trained people and a number of high tech companies looking for opportunities elsewhere,” he said.  In conjunction with the Okanagan Valley Economic Development Council, Penticton‘s economic development services has applied for funds to send recruiters to a number of trade shows in the UK.(more)
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STRATEGY FACTS
The Economic Invesetment Strategy encourages new construction and renovation or additions to existing facilities in three specific areas:
• Hotel and motel development
• Downtown revitalization
• Industry and manufacturing
Incentives provided include:
• 100 per cent municipal tax relief for a period of five years on improvements
• 50 percent reduction in building permit fees
• 50 per cent reduction in development cost charges