Council passes bylaw to borrow $4 million for new building

Photo: Contributed

Armstrong will be getting a new city hall.

The current Armstrong city hall building is more than 100 years old and as Mayor Chris Pieper said “it is beyond its life.”
Armstrong city council has passed a bylaw that would authorize the borrowing of $4 million for a new building.

Armstrong will be working with Vernon-based MQN Architecture to design the building which Pieper said could go to tender in the next few months.

But this will not be a grand hall. Pieper said the city has had to scale back its plans for the new building to keep it within the set budget.

And with the price of building materials skyrocketing, Pieper said they will be keeping a close eye on every expense.

“We cut it back quite a bit from what it originally was and it's pretty much at the minimum size right now,” said Pieper. “Hopefully we will be able to come in on budget, but material costs are going up every day. We are still optimistic we can do it for the money, but if we can't we will have to delay it until we can find additional financing.”

The new building will have a wood-first initiative and will tie in with other structures like the Nor-Val Arena.