Vernon City Hall

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)

VERNON - The future of the Winter Carnival Society building will be decided at the Vernon City Council meeting early next week, settling a months-long debate.

On Monday, Jan. 7, council will vote on an adminstrative recommendation regarding the Vernon Winter Carnival Society's building on 3401 35 Ave. Administration recommends council vote to allow the society to stay in the building until no later than May 1, 2020, with no further extensions

A report from city staff advises that should council allow the society to remain in the building, the society will have to foot the bill for all maintenance and repairs to the building without requesting additional funding from the City of Vernon or the Regional District of North Okanagan. The society will also accept all liability for the building, secure the structure of the property, and actively search for a new location. If council passes the administration's recommendation, the weight of the building will fall squarely on the society's shoulders.

City staff is also offering a second, slightly different recommendation with similar responsibilities for the society, but an alternate building occupation period to be determined by council.

The Winter Carnival Society has occupied the 35 Avenue building since 1995. The City of Vernon became the owner of property in 2014. Due to the flood of BX Creek in 2017, the building suffered severe structural damage. According to the council agenda, an inspection revealed the building to be past its life cycle due to its poor condition. In March 2018, council approved of a demolition order for the building.

The City offered space at the Community Safety Office building on 31 Avenue as an alternate space. Society chair Deb White attended council on Dec. 10, 2018 to explain that the group couldn't accept the current conditions of relocation and needed more time in the building.

Monday's, Jan. 7, council meeting starts at 1:30 p.m. at Vernon city hall.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Sean Mott or call (250) 864-7494 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2019