Group Suggests Hotel Site For Cultural Complex

Written by Peter McIntyre  107.5 KISSFM Thursday, 09 May 2013 16:05
 A new group is trying to get local politicians to consider the city owned Coldstream Hotel site in downtown Vernon for a cultural complex. Holly Baxter and Chuck Wills from the Vernon Revitalization Society told the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee, it could be development-driven, with a residential and commercial component, and would be more efficient than having separate sites for a new art gallery and museum. "This could be a high quality, signature development for the North Okanagan," said Wills. Wills says the duplication of using two sites would be "wasteful," and he wonders about a lack of parking for staff and visitors where the art gallery is considering. Vernon mayor Rob Sawatzky says the Coldstream Hotel idea has already been analyzed and discussed with the user groups. "It's been the subject of considerable analysis both at the professional planning level and with the groups that run the museum and art gallery....It doesn't work from their point of view. They've made that very clear to us," Sawatzky tells Kiss FM However, GVAC chair Mike Macnabb doesn't have a problem taking a closer look at the idea to see if it has merit, adding it would be a completely different approach. "It would rely on the commercial sector coming forward and that's the problem. If we don't have a strong commercial sector because the economy is down, then any changes or improvements could be stalled for years until the economy picks up," says Macnabb. Macnabb says GVAC hasn't made any formal decisions on where a new museum and art gallery could go. The art gallery is looking at a new site on 31st Ave across from Cenotaph Park, while the museum is backing an expansion at the back of their current site on the civic complex.