CFJC Today file photo from the 2018 Pedestrian Plaza Pilot Project

By Dylana Kneeshaw

PEDESTRIAN PLAZAS

Planning underway to invigorate downtown Kamloops with rotating pedestrian plazas

Nov 18, 2020 | 5:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops city council discussed plans to improve the streetscape and culture of the city’s downtown core Tuesday (Nov. 17) with pedestrian plazas top of mind.

A test run of the concept was undertaken in 2018 and Mayor Ken Christian says rotating pedestrian plazas on different downtown blocks will be considered for next summer.

“What they (city staff) would do would be pick a block, pick a week and then block that area off, animate that area, and then after a week, move it to the next block and so on.”

With a permanent plaza in mind, the City would gauge how well the temporary setups worked and gather input from the Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association, business owners and residents. Staff would use this data to help form a permanent development plan and present the proposal to council later in 2021.

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“A lot of new developments now — The Hive being one of them, the new Kelson Group project — are coming up with very innovative ideas for people spaces,” notes Christian. “We’ve become so car-centric in North America and in Kamloops and we have to get away from that. We have to make these plazas and we have to animate them so that they’re interesting for people.”