West Kelowna’s new City Hall, twice rejected by voters, is hosting a summer celebration

WEST KELOWNA — April 23 was the final meeting of West Kelowna city council at the Mount Boucherie recreation complex.

The next meeting, scheduled for May 14, is slated to be held at the municipality’s new city hall.

“After the city has achieved building occupancy, organizational moves and schedules will be confirmed and the public can expect to see various stages of site finishing, preparation and move-in activity while the building remains closed,” says the report, by deputy city manager Trevor Seibel.

An official “community celebration” to mark the opening of the new building is planned for sometime in the summer.

As well as municipal offices, the building will house a library, an office for the Member of Parliament, an office for the Member of the Legislative Assembly, and an ICBC branch.

The building sits on a lakeview lot near the north-west corner of Highway 97 and Dobbin Road next to the Johnson-Bentley swimming pool.

No updated information in the report is provided on the current cost of the city hall.

In 2021, the project was envisioned to cost $18 million. By November of 2023, the cost had risen to $22.4 million.

In late February, the total cost was said to have risen to $22.8 million.

Reasons variously given by municipal officials for the delay have included supply chain issues, highway closures, extreme heat, extreme cold, wildfires, and volatile construction and labour costs.

There have also been lawsuits filed in connection with the project.

West Kelowna residents twice said no to a purpose-built city hall, once through the so-called alternate approval process in which more than the required 10 percent of voters signed petitions against the undertaking, and once in an official referendum.

Nevertheless, council eventually embarked on the project using a method that did not enable voters to have a say. City officials have said the municipality has outgrown its existing offices.