Community Initiatives dough handed out
Thirty-eight projects have been awarded $341,461 through the Columbia Basin Trust’s Community Initiatives and Affected Areas Program.
Thirty-0ne groups applied for funding during the annual CIP show and tell meeting at the beginning of March. Everyone received some funding. A very few applicants — the Hospice Society, the Visual Arts Centre, Seniors’ Association and the Childcare Society — received all of the money they asked for.
Click here to view the full list of applicants and the money they received.
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Glacier Challenge organizers seek a takeover by the City
The Glacier Challenge Softball Tournament would like the City to assume responsibility for the annual event, but that’s encountering some resistance at City Hall.
Historically, the City’s Parks, Recreation and Culture Department has always been involved in some capacity with the organization and administration of the tournament at no cost to the event. In fact, says a report presented to during Tuesday’s Council meeting, the City has spent $24,000 to $30,000 to support the event. Most of that money can be attributed to staff time spent on staff time, mail outs, photocopying, in-kind facility rentals and other administrative tasks.
In her report, Laurie Donato, director of Parks, Recreation and Culture, recommended she and Community Economic Development Director Alan Mason meet with the Glacier Challenge Committee to discuss possible funding opportunities for event coordination through the Revelstoke Accommodation Association and Tourism Infrastructure Grant Program.
Click here to read more about this.
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City wants to see a public presentation on the proposed Revelstoke Adventure Park
The City is asking the province for more time to review the proposal to build an Adventure Park east of town near Greely Creek. It’s also asking if the proponent, Black Tie Developments, would be willing to make a public presentation.
The $25 million adventure tourism park offering a mountain bike trail network, bungee jumping, zip lines and other activities is the brainchild of Black Tie Properties.
“We believe in Revelstoke and think this development will enhance summer tourism here,” proponent Jason Roe said in an interview in February.
It’s an ambitious project that will be developed in five phases over five to seven years, he said.
Located 10-kilometers east of the city, the Revelstoke Adventure Park will include not only a mountain biking trail network, but in its preliminary phase it will host two dedicated mountain adventure centres and accompanying guest facilities and services – The Tree Top Adventure Centre and The Bungee Centre. Planned activities include a bungee jump, a series of treetop adventures and zip lines. Ongoing phases of development will include additional unique attractions, rides and activities integrated into the mountain landscape. Guest facilities will include a lodge, shops, campground, cultural center and ultimately chairlifts for access to mountain biking and activities at elevation.
A management plan for this venture has been submitted, along with an Adventure Tourism Tenure application, to the Ministry of Forests, Land & Natural Resources for review and approval, Roe said.
The proposed park will extend from the northern base of Mount Mackenzie onto Crown land 1,000 metres up its northern shoulder overlapping Revelstoke Mountain Resort’s Controlled Recreational Area. In consideration of this aspect of the development, Jason Roe, Back Tie’s chief operating officer, has been working with RMR throughout the conceptual and planning stages of the Park and says he has the support of RMR’s owners for the proposed land use.
“We bought the property (near Greeley) for this very reason,” he said, adding that while the Gagliardi family, which owns RMR, is very supportive of the project it is not directly participating in its development.
Please click here to learn more.
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Grants-in-aid recipients announced
The City is giving 14 applicants a total of $14,182.62 in grants-in-aid.
Cash awards were given to: the BC Interior Forestry Museum ($1,000); the Mount Revelstoke Quilting Guild ($500); and the Revelstoke Community Band ($1,000).
Credits were given to: the Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy ($750); Community Connections ($500); Revelstoke Acrobats ($900); Revelstoke Arts Council ($2,664.12); Community Childcare Society ($1,273.50); Early Childhood Development Committee ($957); Multicultural Society ($2,500);Revelstoke Roller Derby ($1,000); and Southern Interior Timber Cruisers Association ($14,182.62).
Requests for assistance from the Performing Arts Centre ($1,500) and Victim Servces ($3,000) were not approved. The Grant-in-aid fund still contains $27,818.93.
Click here to read the City report on grants-in-aid.
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A stinky bill for RMR from the City
Revelstoke Mountain Resort has received a very stinky bill from the City for $46,456.88 in unpaid trucked sewer discharge fees.
According to a report to Council by Engineering and Public Works Director Mike Thomas City staff discovered in February that RMR contractor Hard Hammer Construction had failed to register trucked sewer loads in accordance with City bylaws.
“Through further investigation it was determined that the contractor, in addition to failing to record discharged trucked sewer amounts, was also discharging the trucked waste in an unapproved location on Mountain Road above the MacKenzie Landing strata,” Thomas said in his report.
Council was told that the discharges at MacKenzie Landing were into a sanitary outflow.
In a reply to the City, Rob Toor, corporate counsel for Northlands Properties, said the fault lay with Hard Hammer — not RMR — and suggested an amount of $6,400.00 to pay for the disposal of the trucked sewer waste.
Council voted to send RMR an invoice for the full $46,456.88.
Click here to read Mike Thomas’ report to Council.
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