By Camille Aubin
[email protected]

The district of Invermere is set to move forward with the latest phases of its ongoing downtown revitalization project this fall. The work, which will be on 7th Avenue between the AG Valley Foods intersection and the Cenotaph park, is scheduled for the first week of Sept.

“We did the downtown revitalization plan, and we have moved forward on it. We are going to try and tweak it a little bit if necessary, to suit the needs of everyone, but generally, the plan is a good plan. It was well designed from early consultation,” said Invermere mayor Al Miller.

The revitalization project design includes curb and gutter removal and replacement; irrigation and electrical installation; sidewalk refresh and repair; new lighting; as well as safety improvements at six pedestrian crossing bump outs; street tree additions; and two additional parking stalls. “It’s really going to add to the appearance of the downtown,” commented Miller.

Earlier in May, the district awarded the project for the work to Wilco Contractors Southwest Inc. for $1.02 million, with construction taking place between Sept. and Oct.

The current phase of downtown revitalization work is entirely funded by grants. The Columbia Basin Trust awarded the district a grant of $500,000, with a participation commitment from the district of 25 per cent. Recently, the district was successful in obtaining a $700,000 grant from the provincial government through the B.C. Tourism Dependent Communities (BC-TDC) grant to help support the project, of which $125,000 is used to meet the 25 per cent commitment under the CBT funding. Among the last successful grant applications is a $128,000 grant from the Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI) funding.

All grants are time-sensitive. “We need to move ahead with it (plan) because this is all grant money. We’re not utilizing our normal tax dollars to do this downtown revitalization. It is grant money that we received for COVID-19 restart. And so we need to do it this year and have it substantially done,” explained Miller.

BC-TDB, in particular, has set a strict Dec. 31, 2021 work start date requirement, as the grant is geared toward COVID-19 recovery employment initiatives. A date extension of Dec. 31, 2022, has been granted by CBT.

On July 26, 32 people attended the Downtown Business Association (DBA) scoping meeting to get to know more about the project and to share concerns and ideas. The Columbia Valley Chamber of Commerce prepared a formal questionnaire and sent it to the DBA group, consisting of approximately 85 people. By Aug. 5, 15 responses had been received by the chamber. “We did consult with the downtown businesses now and we got a lot of responses back,” said Miller. “A lot of different people have a lot of different ideas. Which is always the way, and we try to satisfy the majority, but we’re trying to work with the planner, and with the community and make any little tweaks that we need to try and keep the majority happy.”

One of the concerns mentioned is the lack or the loss of parking spaces. “I don’t think our downtown can afford to lose any parking stalls. I think the downtown can be improved without impacting any parking stalls,” wrote Holly Jones from Manulife Securities.

While some business owners aren’t ready to give up parking spaces, others ask for a more pedestrian and bike friendly downtown. “Parking still needs to be a priority even as we look to make Invermere downtown more enjoyable to walk and bike in. Many shoppers come from communities requiring them to drive to town, even if they walk and bike once there. Parking needs to be easy,” replied one business owner in the questionnaire. On the other hand, Mylene Lefebvre from ION2 Progression Suspension wrote that there should be more space for pedestrians and cyclists and less for parking..that the downtown needs to be “more bicycle friendly”: noting that it is “scary to bike on main street now”, and that there should be more bicycle parking, and an e-bike charger too.”

The addition of trees was another issue that sparked differing opinions. Several businesses expressed concern about “increased traffic congestion due to trees reaching into the parking spaces,” the “snow removal around the trees adjacent to the roads,” and the “growth of tree roots under pavement”. But others suggested more threes would be great for “shade,” a sense of “welcoming,” and because they will be “pretty.”

Another concern centred on the scoped of the project. “I believe that 7th Ave is already wonderful: we should consider moving the revitalization to 8 Ave or 13 St,” wrote Rhiannon Tutty from Tutty Financial- Sun Life. “Extending the areas of beautification and foliage to other areas of downtown, not focussing as much on 7th Avenue which already has park areas, trees, and flowers,” wrote another business. “Don’t just focus on 7th Ave, it’s pretty nice already,” said Andrea Tubbs from Kootenay Clothing Company (Kootenay Collective).

“There were concerns that popped up. But, the concerns were not shared by everybody. They were shared by just a few. That is why, when I say we are going back to the plan, but with tweaks, is how we stated that we were going to move forward,” explained Miller. “I can’t tell you today exactly how far those tweaks are going to be, but we are going to look at it. Our staff is going to be discussing it with the planners to see how it lies. And (to see) if these (concerns) are going to be an issue, or whether we can change it up a little bit so that they don’t become an issue. In their (planners) mind, it is not an issue.”