(Image Credit: CFJC Today File)

By Victor Kaisar

YKA Development

Kamloops council to consider potential tax exemptions to spur development at Fulton Field

Mar 9, 2026 | 4:27 PM

KAMLOOPS — Three Kamloops councillors are hoping to see the city’s Revitalization Tax Exemption program be expanded to include lands around the airport.

Councillors Bill Sarai, Katie Neustaeter and Stephen Karpuk are presenting a notice of motion at Tuesday’s (March 9) meeting in the hopes of spurring development at Fulton Field by offering potential developers a break on municipal taxes to attract private investment.

“We’re still going to be collecting taxes on the basic raw lands but its the improvements that they’ll get a break on,” Sarai, the chair of the Kamloops Airport Authority Society, told CFJC Today. “If somebody comes in and builds a hotel or a gas bar or a recreational facility or whatever else they think they can do, we’re going to try and spur on development.”

Revitalization Tax Exemptions are currently offered for new commercial and residential properties both downtown and on the North Shore of Kamloops, as well as for the redevelopment of existing hotel sites and the construction of new daycares or purpose-built rental housing.

Projects that qualify are exempt from the municipal portion of taxes at the new assessed value following redevelopment for a period of 10 years. However, Sarai said the length of this proposed exemption at the airport, if it is approved by council, has not been finalized.

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“We haven’t nailed down a specific of time for the tax breaks. There are variations – three, five, seven, 10 – that all depends on he appetite of council and what type of business we’re looking for,” Sarai said.

“To be honest, I think, if someone is going to build a hotel out there, we may need to look at a longer period of time for tax incentives because of the amount of investment they’re putting forward, whereas a coffee shop or a gas station may need a lower exemption period.”

Sarai said it will be up to staff to determine those exemption periods as well as developments that may be eligible, so council can make a final decision.

“We can see what others airports did when they offered these incentives,” Sarai added, noting he’d like to see this tax exemption be implemented as quickly as possible. “The airport lands are vital for taxation for the City of Kamloops.”

This tax exemption initiative comes about two years after the city approved a rezoning of 276 hectares of land by the airport with the goal of allowing a broader range of commercial, industrial and airport-related uses in the future.

“We’ve got roads punched in and water and sewer is ready to go,” Sarai said. “We’ve already had a few new tenants come in but in reality, a lot of the developers are looking for foot traffic or traffic counts and as you can imagine, we don’t have that right now per se to attract new businesses.”

“Tax incentives like we’ve done for hotels and commercial buildings have its benefits and that’s what we’re trying to do at the airport. Previous councils have already done the hard work around these exemptions and they realized its a benefit to the city.”