Photo: City of Penticton
City of Penticton staff will be looking into whether a hotel attached to the Penticton Trade and Convention Center is feasible, thanks to a motion from a city councillor.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Coun. Isaac Gilbert asked for a vote on whether to direct staff to report back with an outline of the steps necessary to achieve a hotel for the area as part of the North Gateway Plan.
The area around the PTCC has seen growth, as the city continues to work on development to transform the northwestern tip of Penticton into a vibrant community over the next 20 to 30 years.
The Four Points by Sheraton Penticton at the Convention Center opened in January, directly across the street from the Penticton Trade and Convention Center. The six-storey, 121-room hotel is owned and operated by Mundi Hotel Enterprises.
Recently, Hotel Penticton, previously the Coast Hotel, received council approval for a 52-room addition to its existing 35-suite operation on Westminster Avenue.
Gilbert said he thought a conference center-adjactent hotel would be a good way for the city to retain a lot of convention business and hopefully attract airlines that have been lost over the years.
Coun. Helena Konanz said that the previous council looked at this around eight years ago, with multiple public hearings, which saw residents against building a hotel on public land.
“I would love staff to come back and dust off that staff report from eight years ago and give a presentation on what happened and why we would need a number of things, including a referendum, in order to build or to allow private business to build on that location,” she said.
“I do support staff coming back with a history lesson for us to tell us what happened so we don’t have to relive that again.”
She added that since then, with the addition of the Four Points Hotel, as well as growth at the Penticton Lakeside and Hotel Penticton, the city’s accommodation inventory has increased significantly.
“Councillor Konanaz, I’d be glad to give you a little bit of the history because I lived through it at the time,” Coun. James Miller said, adding that there was a public information meeting and hearing, and it was discovered that there was a covenant on that land it was donating with the understanding that it would be for parkland.
“Therefore, it would require a referendum and at that point, I think everyone realized there was no way that a referendum would pass. So that was 2015.”
Miller added that he wasn’t convinced that convention trends were going to stay as they were and he didn’t see a point in looking into what the city already knew.
“I think it’s a poor idea. I’ll be voting against it.”
However, other councilors thought that since staff already has background info, why not bring forward the motion.
“I personally wasn’t around in 2015 and I would really like to flesh out this idea,” Coun. Amelia Boultbee said. “I think Councilor Gilbert’s reasoning is really solid and I would encourage my fellow councillors to vote for this. I mean it’s only asking for a report and an outline.”
“I think that it’s certainly worth the investigation to see what it’s going to take,” added Major Julius Bloomfield.
Council voted majority in favor of staff bringing back a report, with Miller opposed.