Category: Kamloops Real Estate News

This article appeared in the Kamloops Daily News on June 4th, 2012 and was written by Sylvie Paillard.

Despite jumping the gun on the start-up of Ajax Mine, a magazine article’s accolades for the business climate in Kamloops is still good news for the City by all accounts.

A combination of nature and nurture makes Kamloops the best place for business in B.C., and among the top three in western Canada, according to Venture Alberta magazine, a 15-year-old publication that boasts more than 160,000 business readers.

“We look at hard indicators like business tax, median income and average lease rate,” said Venture Alberta editor Michael Ganley. “But there’s also a lot of softer stuff, like a community that’s close to the mountains and has got some great swimming.”

The city’s strength in mining also boosted its ranking, despite the magazine’s incorrect report that Ajax mine started up a year ago and employs more than 850 people.

The magazine’s editorial staff took in 85 applications from communities from Saskatchewan to B.C. and settled on Kamloops as its top pick of the 25 best, based mainly on its new reputation as a hub for tech companies.

“That’s an industry of the future,” said Ganley. “Working on becoming a centre for IT, for communications, that set it apart.”

Q9 opened its six-megawatt data storage facility in April of 2010. It’s currently used to store information for the B.C. government. Just next door, Telus is building a $75-million facility set to open some time in 2013. The communications giant plans to invest $100 million in the city over a three-year period.

The magazine also points to developments in the business sector as a boon. Kamloops licensed 5,512 new business permits in 2011, a slight increase of 1.7 per cent from 2010. It also increased its annual construction value in the commercial, industrial and institutional sectors by nine per cent, to $57 million in 2011.

Despite the erroneous reference to Ajax, mining still gets top billing for its investment.

Rick Robertson, an owner of Robertson MFG, a Kamloops-based supplier of core and soil-sample boxes for the mining industry, is among the entrepreneurs benefiting from the area’s natural resources.

“We’ve got tremendous mining development potential and longevity,” he said.

Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Terry Lake says the area is naturally suited to be an IT hub since fibre optic networks follow the railway lines with CN Rail and CP Rail coalescing in the City. And its natural resources give it prominence for investment as well.

But there’s no forgetting the City’s business nurturing aspect.

“Venture Kamloops is getting stronger and stronger,” he said, referring to the City’s business information and economic development organization.

“People who are looking to do business here can find out about it in a very short period of time and that wasn’t always the case.”

To hear him speak of selling the area, Venture Kamloops executive director Dan Sulz makes it sound easy.

“I keep saying it’s really going to be our time to shine,” he said. “Because of the diversity of our economy, there’s a business case for businesses to be here but there’s also a reason for people to visit here as well.”

Diversity of industry attracts investment from firms that know skilled employees will be attracted to areas where they can live and work, said mayor Peter Milobar.

“The strength of our diversification and the wide variety of things that we have driving our economy are all strong and stable right now,” he said.

And with the City’s focus on balancing business, social issues and public amenities, Venture Kamloops will have plenty to boast about, said Milobar.

“Venture Kamloops is instrumental in trying to get the word out there to the broader investment community and publications and articles like this are another tool that they can use to effectively demonstrate what they’re saying is backed up by other people.”

Read the Alberta Venture profile for Kamloops.

This article appeared in the Kamloops Daily News on May 15th, 2012 and was written by Cam Fortems.

A revised plan for Tranquille on the Lake will go to public hearing following initial approval from Kamloops council Tuesday.

One of the key proposed changes at Tranquille is deletion of a proposed golf course.

Detailed changes to the concept require an amendment to the city’s official community plan.

The proposed residential subdivision will be zoned for 1,000 to 2000 units of housing. Seventy-six per cent will be green or open space and it will feature a city park and boat launch.

Developers are promoting farming on traditional lands that will co-exist with housing. The proposed subdivision at the east end of Kamloops Lake — a former tuberculosis sanitarium and home for people with developmental disabilities — will have its own water and sewer services.

It will feature an overall theme of sustainability.

“When Tranquille, back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, was in its heyday, it was a sustainable community,” said City community development manager Randy Lambright, noting it was home to a farm, slaughterhouse and had its own water and sewer system.

“They’re attempting to go back to those roots.”

Promoters are opening a farmers’ market at Tranquille this month.

No date is set for the public hearing on the proposed amendment to the official community plan.

“Over time we may have to think of things like adding transit,” Lambright said in response to a question by Coun. Arjun Singh, who expressed concern about single-occupant car trips.

More than 150 people attended recent open house meeting by proponents B.C. Wilderness Tours.

Developers are seeking changes to permit development but have no near-term plans for construction due to the wider economic conditions.

This article appeared in the Kamloops Daily News on May 2nd, 2012 and was written by Mike Youds.

For a neighbourhood nervous about a proposed strip mine just over the hill, a City open house on Wednesday seemed, well, more like a walk in the park.

West Highlands will be Kamloops’ newest city park once it’s developed next year, and there was no doubt at Aberdeen elementary Wednesday night that the park will be a crowd pleaser.

“It’s a good thing,” said Vance Ardell, one of about 75 people, many of them area residents, who attended the session. “I’d like to see people using it, I like to see the dogs out using it and the kids using it, too. I like the whole thing.”

The 14-hectare, donut-shaped green space is an urban redevelopment project that practically fell into the City’s lap when Aberdeen Highlands Development Corp. decided to close Aberdeen Links last fall.

The golf course simply wasn’t sustainable, said Glenn Grant, a neighbourhood resident.

“This will be more widely used by residents around there,” he said.

Responding to a survey that showed overwhelming support for a park, the company sold a parcel of the land to the City for $2.3 million and donated other portions. With another $2.5 million earmarked for park development, the City got the planning process underway Wednesday by asking for input.

Conceptual plans include redeveloping the former clubhouse as a possible community centre flanked by a couple of playfields, expanded parking, community gardens and preservation of the existing pond. A 1.7-kilometre linear path would weave through the grassland section of the park, which encircles an existing subdivision.

Erynn Carney, a young mother, sees the potential to address a recreational shortcoming in the city — toddler parks.

“There are so many kids up here,” she said. “In fact, most of the city doesn’t have a toddler-friendly park.”

Another not-quite-so-young contingent was well represented.

Matthew Gosse was with a group of young longboard riders from throughout the city who hope to see part of the park offer paved trails. As members of the Kamloops Longboard Club, they give lessons to youngsters and argue for a safer alternative to streets.

“Opportunities like this don’t come up too often,” Gosse said, noting that the amenity could serve multiple purposes.

“It would be the best place in the city for it,” added Brendan Woods, who recalled having been hit twice by vehicles while longboarding on the street.

Winter sports — skating on the pond and cross-country skiing on the trail — are another possibility.

“Given the elevation of the park, I think winter activities could have huge appeal,” said Michael Doll, a City parks planner.

There was but one bone of contention at the open house. Several residents complained about off-leash dogs and canine droppings. Stick-it notes were strategically placed on one map to show where bag dispensers ought to go.

“This is the biggest doggy park in the world,” said Joanne Linnell, whose home overlooks the golf course. “Is it going to be a doggy park or a park for people?”

With potential for another 3,000 residents in the neighbourhood through build-out by the developer over the next 10 to 15 years, there will be even greater need for a park in the area, said Coun. Nelly Dever.

Nick DeCicco, the City’s parks planning and project supervisor, said that’s a citywide complaint not confined to Aberdeen. He said residents are happy to see the former golf course preserved as public green space.

“Everything going well, we should be able to get the park developed next year,” he said.

Another open house will be held once public input has been added to the concept plan.

This article appeared on Kamloops This Week on May 1st, 2012 and was written by Andrea Klassen.

A housing project slated for the historic tuberculosis-sanatorium lands on Tranquille Road is beginning to bear fruit.

Or, rather, vegetables.

While the village-style development is still years away from construction, the organic farm that anchors the project is up and running.

Starting Saturday, May 26, the Tranquille Farm’s produce will go on sale in a new farmers’ market space that will run on weekends to the end of summer.

The neighbourhood plan for the Tranquille on the Lake development will also head to city council this month.

“This sets the vision for the next 30 or 40 years, so, it’s really a key issue,” said development manager Tim McLeod.

“Once this is behind there, then zoning will take place. Then we’ll do a phased development agreement, then start to build.”

The updated plan was on display on April 26 at a downtown open house McLeod said was meant to give council and the public an opportunity to see where the plan is at now.

Tranquille on the Lake could include up to 2,000 residential units, which would include apartment, townhome and single-family dwellings and seasonal houses.

While past plans for the site included an 18-hole golf course, McLeod said it was written out of the latest draft to save more space for the organic farm and orchard that will cover about 60 per cent of the 191-hectare property.

“There’s a huge groundswell of people looking for good-quality food,” he said.

“They’re really concerned about it and they want to live where that food is.”

A marina planned for the village has also become a “working waterfront,” which McLeod said could include boat-repair and fishing shops.

“It’s more of a West Coast feel,” he said.

“So, on a Saturday morning, you take your latte and you can go along the beachfront and enjoy it.”

If council finds favour with the development, McLeod estimated it will take about a year to get through the regulatory process and two more years to get the first phase of the project to the move-in stage.

On the farming side, owners B.C. Wilderness Tours are also drafting a farm plan for the province’s Agricultural Land Commission, which functions much as its neighbourhood plan does.

The company is still hoping to take a portion of its property out of the Agricultural Land Reserve and replace it with non-ALR lands McLeod said are better-suited to farming.

In addition to granting approval for the farmers’ market, the commission has already agreed to an on-site RV park.

The full neighbourhood plan is available at tranquille.ca.

Click here to read more information about the area.