June 2018

172 173 facilities. “The old generating station had pen- stocks above ground, providing the water out of the reservoir,”Adams explains, “and the city was drawing its water supply off of those penstocks, which meant that, in addition to that billion-dol- lar project for Hydro, the city had to invest in its infrastructure. And that project is due to complete this spring. It’s the largest capital project for the City of Campbell River in its history at about $39 million. And that is coming in on time and on budget.” Another recent project that has boosted Camp- bell River’s economy was the decision made by the provincial government to rebuild the Camp- bell River Hospital. “Four months ago, we cut the ribbon and opened the doors to a state-of-the-art, brand new, acute care hospital,” says Adams. “That was a $300 million infrastructure project that re- ally helped tide us over as we were transitioning our economic base.” While Adams says that Campbell River benefit- ted from these major capital projects, he stresses that the city was concurrently putting programs in place to attract investment and spark a revi- talization of its downtown. “Seven years ago, we created a downtown tax exemption, which was for developers in a finite area in the downtown core, to encourage them to redevelop,” he reports. “We have had an uptake of seven large facilities. Broadstreet Properties, for example, the largest apartment builder in western Canada, have all of their office team, here. They took up an entire block that was previously assessed at about $1.1 million; they bought it, built a $17 million head Growing fresh, farmed salmon on the wild Pacific Coast RICH IN HISTORY. DEEP IN TRADITION. ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF MINING TECHNOLOGY. OUR WILL GALVANIZE THE WORLD! Zn AT MYRA FALLS, IT’S MORE THAN JUST A JOB. LIVE AND WORK ON VANCOUVER ISLAND. LEARN MORE AT WWW.NYRSTAR.COM | APPLY AT CAREERS.MYRAFALLS@NYRSTAR.COM CAMPBELL RIVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA office building, and they do not pay tax for a five- year period on the difference between the pur- chase price and the assessed price.We also had Berwick Homes set up here. It’s a beautiful facility for active seniors and a significant $20 million investment in our downtown core. “There’s a brand new Comfort Inn and a new apartment building to get some residential living in the downtown core. All of those investments, with that downtown tax incentive meant that, while we weren’t getting revenue right away, we were providing an incentive – and, knowing that revenue would be deferred for a five-year period, we could then plan for that new revenue coming in to help with further investments in the down- town infrastructure. “Tied in with that, we did a couple of other programs for downtown revitalization through a façade improvement program. That’s been run- ning for five years. The City puts out a call to the private businesses in the downtown to say, ‘We’ll put up 50 percent of the money if you want to redo the look on the outside of your building.’ That’s tied in with a sign program so that we can get away from the neon backlit signs and into more decorative signs that provide a more inti- mate and attractive atmosphere in the downtown core. That’s been received extremely well and it’s meant for some beautification in our area. “That’s combined with the City’s initiative of live streets; we are closing down Campbell River’s main street for events on weekday evenings in the summertime –whether it be for concerts or markets.We’re also putting in ‘parklets” all over