Naramata Centre may sell off properties
Two years after converting to a slimmed-down business model, the Naramata Centre is now considering selling roughly half of its land holdings in the heart of the village.
Centre manager Jim Simpson said the nonprofit society intends later this month to issue a request for expressions of interest from developers to see what ideas may be out there for the 11 parcels identified as surplus.
“We want to get the developer on and see what could be. We have no pre-conceived ideas at this point,” said Simpson.
He stressed that community input is important in the process, as evidenced by a meeting last week attended by about 80 residents to keep them abreast of the Centre’s plans.
Simpson said proceeds of the sale would be used to pay down the Centre’s debt and help fund continued operations, which were scaled back dramatically in 2016 following a two-year closure.
As a result of the streamlined offerings, he explained, the Centre no longer requires all of the approximately nine hectares of land it owns and would prefer to see it put to use for the benefit of the greater community.
The EOI is expected to remain open for 90 days, and Simpson hopes to see development underway within a year.
But while Simpson wouldn’t speculate on possible new uses for the land, Naramata’s representative on the board of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen believes a seniors’ assisted-living facility would be an ideal fit.
“We would like to have our seniors be able to stay in our community,” said Karla Kozakevich, who noted those in need of care now have to move to Penticton to get it.
“And the other good thing is it offers jobs 12 months a year.”
Other ideas that have already come forward, she continued, are mixed-use developments incorporating commercial and residential space, a culinary school, community hall and community market.
Regardless of what happens, Kozakevich said, rezoning will be required as the site is currently subject to special zoning created exclusively for the Centre.
And the rezoning process, she continued, will guarantee the public’s right to have a say in redevelopment.
It’s unlikely the RDOS will purchase any of the properties, Kozakevich added, as residents are already paying for a new fire truck and recent purchases of park lands.
Still, “I’m really excited that something is happening now,” she said, “because it is a big piece of land right in the core of the village.”
When the Centre reopened in spring 2016 following a protracted labour dispute, it moved away from the full-service conference business that it relied upon for decades and shifted towards a wider assortment of weeklong day programs ranging from the arts to spiritual growth, plus self-serve accommodations.
Owned by the United Church of Canada, the Centre opened in 1952 with a focus on faithbased learning for church leaders, although its mandate expanded over the decades to serve the public as well.