Release date:
August 30, 2018

The City of Kamloops has completed Phase 2 of the Downtown Plan, which focused on identifying issues, opportunities, and a vision for the Downtown, Sagebrush, and West End neighbourhoods. Community engagement events during Phase 2 consisted of open houses, information booths, and online surveys. In addition, the City hosted a design charrette (intensive workshop) to further explore the vision and develop design concepts for key opportunity sites within the Downtown.

One of the key themes that emerged from public feedback was the need for a community gathering or plaza space to make the Downtown more pedestrian friendly and vibrant. This resulted in the 4th Avenue Plaza Pilot Project, which consisted of closing a short section of 4th Avenue on either side of Victoria Street to vehicles for pedestrians only. The pilot ran from July 26 to August 12 and the intent was to see how the space functioned and how it was received by the public. Feedback on the plaza was collected via an online survey, which received 360 responses. 88% of respondents said they visited the plaza and 75% said they would like to see the plaza become permanent.

A summary of the survey results, including what people liked and disliked about the 4th Avenue Plaza is available online at Kamloops.ca/DowntownPlan. Summaries of the Phase 2 community engagement activities and of the Downtown Design Charrette are also available online.