Kamloops Real Estate Blog

This article was written by Cam Fortems of the Kamloops Daily News on September 12, 2011.

Sewer expansion on TIB lands funded under a federal government program designed to create jobs after the last recession will provide even more economic opportunity in the future, leaders said Monday.

Tk’emlups Indian Band held a official opening at its arbor Monday morning to celebrate completion of its $9.7-million sewer mainline trunk expansion.

The system feeds into the City of Kamoops sewage treatment plant.

While the Sun Rivers development and Sk’lep school have always been connected to the City plant, most of the band lands remained on septic systems.

TIB councillor Fred Seymour, who headed the project for the band, said that fact limited commercial development potential, as well as housing for band members. The 114 homes at the band’s main George Campbell subdivision are on one-acre lots to allow septic fields. But Seymour said the trunk line extension will allow more dense land use, including multi-family projects for band members.

Seymour said the band had long wanted to expand its sewer system and was ready to approach Ottawa in the wake of the last recession, when government was looking for “shovel-ready” projects to help create jobs and boost the economy.

Chief Shane Gottfriedson said now that the more than seven kilometres of trunk line is in place, the band and individual certificate of possession owners will be looking at development and hooking up in the next phase. That includes Mount Paul Industrial Park, which is currently on septic systems.

“We’d like to get the business case and financial planning together.”

In addition to hooking up existing development, Gottfriedson said the sewer expansion allows servicing of 20 hectares of developable land along the South Thompson River beside the Chief Louis complex.

“We’re looking at a riverfront atmosphere with restaurants and fine dining,” Gottfriedson said. “We want to build upon what we started at the Chief Louis Centre.”

The band originally looked at building its own sewage treatment centre, but has an agreement with the City of Kamloops dating back more than a decade. One of the possible outfalls was on the North Thompson River.

Kamloops Mayor Peter Milobar said the City has always factored in development on band lands into its wastewater treatment planning.

“Anytime you can have one less outfall is a good thing for all the residents of the region.”

Both the engineering and construction were done by Kamloops-based companies. One of the band’s stipulations was 30 per cent of the construction workforce was First Nations.

The band also trained and will employ two workers to maintain the series of lines and lift stations.

Link

This article appeared in the Kamloops This Week on August 17, 2011 and was written by Jeremy Deutsch.

Just when construction activity was looking tepid in the Tournament Capital, along came July.

Though the number of residential permits did drop last month, overall construction value topped that of July 2010, according to the city’s building-permit department.

The city handed out $14 million in building permits in July, compared to $10 million during the same month in 2010.

So far in 2011, the city has recorded $97 million in construction activity, compared to $126 million through the same span last year.

The solid numbers from July seem to have caught city hall by surprise.

David Trawin, director of development and engineering services, said it appears Kamloops will meet its target for the year.

In 2010, the city issued $191-million worth of building permits, but expected that number to drop in 2011 to about $140 million.

“Will we hit the $190 million we hit last year? No. We’re definitely not going to and I don’t think we expected to,” Trawin said.

He also expects August construction numbers to be similarly steady.

Part of the month’s strong showing was the result of a big jump for commercial construction.

The city issued $4.6-million in commercial-building permits for the month, a significant increase from the $300,000 value in July 2010.

The number of single-family permits issued in July hit 13, a little more than half of the 21 permits issued at the same time last year.

The city handed out $7.2-million worth of residential permits last month, compared to $9.3 million in July 2010.

Kamloops has only topped the $200-million mark in permits once, in 2008, when it doled out $207-million worth of permits, which remains a record.

Housing starts in Kamloops were also down last month.

According to statistics from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the number of single-family housing starts in July dropped to 26 from 35 the previous year.

However the number of multi-family starts did increase —  to 56 from seven in July 2010.

Overall, housing starts have dropped by 18 per cent in Kamloops so far this year.

The drop in starts in Kamloops is still not as steep as other communities in the region, such as Penticton and Vernon, which recorded declines of 73 and 44 per cent, respectively.

Link