Image Credit: CFJC Today / Aaron Schulze

By Aaron Schulze

Nico-locked

Council approves closure of 400-block of Nicola Street following sale to Kelson Group

Mar 11, 2022 | 12:05 PM

KAMLOOPS — The 400-block of Nicola Street will soon be closed off.

Kamloops Council passed a bylaw during Tuesday’s (March 8) meeting where they authorized the closure of the stretch of downtown roadway. It comes four months after the Kelson Group’s City Gardens project received its development permit at the site located on Battle Street and Nicola Street between Fourth Avenue and Fifth Avenue, and one month after the city sold the block of Nicola Street to Kelson Group for $1.2 million.

Council received two public letters of concern regarding the closure: one from Rev. Leonard Fraser, interim priest at St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral and Fourth Avenue and Nicola Street and other from a resident at an apartment building at 411 Nicola Street.

Fraser wrote the parking problems in the area would get worse with the closure and suggested there could be different options such as building a fence with a designated entrance at the construction site.

“Our service each week are impacted by the lack of parking in the area,” Fraser writes. “People who work in the area, such as the hospital, park along Nicola Street all… The two-hour parking is not enforced by the city… Parking is a problem now for the people in the area and to lose a whole block of parking will negatively impact the area now.

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“The City of Kamloops has had a number of years to deal with the parking problem and there seems to be a lack of foresight to this problem. I understand how important making our community greener and a number of our parishioners live downtown and when possible, they walk, but many are elderly and sometimes the walking can be a problem.”

Mayor Ken Christian told CFJC Today the COVID-19 pandemic has made addressing downtown parking more complex, as he says the downtown core hasn’t seen the same pressures on parking since 2019. He mentioned there have been issues with parking availability in downtown neighbourhoods due to spots behind taken up by Royal Inland Hospital staff and visitors.

“On the horizon, we have an ask into the (provincial) government for additional parking on the hospital precinct. The regional hospital district has put aside $5 million towards a parking structure on that site,” Christian says. “While this project has enough parking to accommodate the residents and a certain amount of visitor parking, there will be days where there will be events hosted by individuals within that complex that will spill out into the available public spots. As a city, we’re starting to look at active transportation, more public transit and other alternatives to get people less dependent on cars. The more success we have with that, the less pressure there will be for parking

Detlef Wessler, a resident the apartment at 411 Nicola St., wrote his concerns about the access of larger vehicles – such as vans, ground maintenance, and contractors – and emergency vehicles. Christian’s understanding is the Kelson Group will allow emergency vehicle and pedestrian access through the future City Gardens site.

“But it will be their property and the landscaping and infrastructure will look different,” Christian says. “I’m confident that the Kelson Group will be able to maintain access to adjacent properties, and access for emergency vehicles, throughout the construction process, but there will be disruptions. Concrete vehicles, pump trucks… offloading and loading construction equipment for a long period of time — and that’s the price of progress.”

Christian said the closure of the 400-block of Nicola Street will be up to Kelson Group’s construction schedule.

Construction of the City Gardens project is set to begin in spring 2022 with a phased approach and is anticipated to be complete in 2028. Kelson Group President Jason Fawcett previously said they anticipate launching sales in early spring 2022 and the start of parkade construction this month.