Kamloops votes 'no' to Performing Arts Centre Complex

The City of Kamloops now has a large empty building on its hands, after residents voted against borrowing up to $49 million to build a performing arts centre and an underground parkade.

Over the weekend, 53.7 per cent voted 'no' in the referendum to borrow the money to turn the former Kamloops Daily News building into an arts centre.

The building had already been purchased by the city for $4.8 million, but the loan to fund the renovation would have cost the average household about $38 per year for the next 20 years.

"We do want to see a performing arts centre built in the future, but under a different financial model and a revised scale,"said Nelly Dever, who speaks for the Performing Arts Centre Not Yet committee. 

But Kamloops Mayor Peter Milobar says there are no other plans in the works for an alternate performing art centre in the city. 

"I think this was a golden opportunity for Kamloops residents to invest in ourselves as a community and create another building that would have been heavily used," said Milobar.

Low voter turn out

About 32 per cent of the eligible voters in Kamloops turned up in the referendum.

"I cannot help but be struck by the low voter turn out. That concerns me," said Barbara Berger, recreation, social development and cultural manager for the City of Kamloops.

"Obviously, we didn't succeed in convincing the majority of the people about the importance of this project. Not just for downtown, but the tremendous economic impact it would've had on our community and the cultural impact," said Berger.

"But I believe the demand was real," said Berger. "We weren't just doing this as a nice-to. It really was a need-to project." 

To hear the full interview listen to the audio labelled Yes campaign on Performing Arts Centre dismayed by results  on CBC's Daybreak Kamloops.