Photo: Contributed - Strategic Development Group

West Kelowna council has decided to go with an alternative approval process to seek voter approval for a new city hall.

The AAP will ask eligible voters to approve the borrowing of up to $10.5 million to construct a city hall on the site of the new civic centre.

City staff will now prepare the borrowing bylaw for council approval.

Once adopted, the province must give its approval before timelines can be drawn up.

Under the AAP, 10 per cent of eligible voters must voice their disapproval to quash the borrowing bylaw.

Meantime, council Tuesday gave staff approval to finalize the construction contract between the City of West Kelowna and Strategic BC Investments Inc. to construct the 32,215 square feet city hall, contingent on voter approval.

“The Civic Centre project has been a key focus of council’s attention since 2013 and, after a great deal of hard work by a number of people, we are very pleased with the proposal that we are presenting for consideration by West Kelowna taxpayers,” said Mayor Doug Findlater.

“From the beginning, council has wanted to invest in much more than just a city hall. We wanted to put our money where our mouths are and kick start revitalization with our investment and we believe we will do exactly that with the West Kelowna civic centre project.”

The economic benefits to West Kelowna’s downtown stemming from the construction of a new city hall and the other elements of the West Kelowna civic centre are estimated at $49.13 million for the estimated $31.9 million construction project.

Benefits from direct and indirect jobs will also come and the project meets many of the goals of the Westbank Centre Revitalization Plan.

“The vision Council had is within our reach and we are particularly excited about the prospect that we will not only have more people living and working in West Kelowna’s downtown, but there will be centralized health services with room to grow, meeting another of our community’s long-time wishes,” said Findlater.

“We have also been able to secure within our current financial plan the repayment of the city hall debt, meaning this investment will not result in any additional property tax increases over what we have been estimating for years, another key element to council’s plan.”