Municipal Infrastructure Study
Ever wonder just what the value of the village’s infrastructure is- the water and sewer systems, storm sewer, roads and buildings? According to municipal consultants LandInfo Technologies, it’s about $44 million. The village’s biggest assets are its buildings- about $12 million, followed by the water system, at $11 million. If you had to replace every road in the village tomorrow, it would cost about $9 million. Storm and sanitary sewers cost $2 million and $10 million respectively.
Knowing that is important, as it helps the village’s leaders to set priorities for keeping it all in good repair. Council sets aside about $300,000 annually in reserves to maintain all those assets and replace them as they come to the end of their useful lives.
Asset management is becoming a big issue for municipalities, as higher levels of government want to see plans before providing funding for new infrastructure. The village has been working with LandInfo to develop an asset management plan. A company rep made a presentation to council Monday, reporting on their ongoing collaboration with village staff.
Things bubbling at hot springs
The landslide that closed off access to the Nakusp Hot Springs last June hit the facility’s budget pretty hard. The final numbers for 2o17, presented to council on Monday, show the Hot Springs made just over $785,000 last year, about $16,000 less than in 2016. The facility was on track for a record year until that slide made the road a mess for about a month, and wildfires drove tourists away from the region for part of the summer. 41,257 people visited the hot springs last year, about 6,000 less than 2016.
The director of recreation and parks, Terry Welsh, told council the facility was also benefitting from the new social media marketing strategy it implemented recently. He says the chalets are seeing occupancy rates like the high season, at around 72-76 per cent, at what is usually a quieter time of the year. That’s boosted the hot springs revenues for the first two months of 2018 higher than in the same period in 2017, even though fewer people have come through for a dip in those months than at the same time last year.
Rezoning land for industrial use
Just a few months after rezoning a number of properties where Kuskanax Creek meets Arrow Lake, a landowner is asking for another change in zoning. The properties were rezoned when the village got rid of the Resort Residential class of zoning, and all were converted to Comprehensive Residential. Now one of the affected landowners wants to convert to Light Industrial and subdivide his property. Just a few weeks ago, Arrow Lakes News spoke with a business owner in Nakusp frustrated by the lack of available Light Industrial-zoned land in the village. Council gave the first two readings to the bylaw to make the change, and will now hold a public hearing on the issue.
Hard work pays off for campground operators
Last year was pretty good for the municipal campground. A report submitted to council shows the campground made more than $22,750 profit last year, which is split between the village and the contracted operators.
But the operator says that the good showing came at a pretty heavy cost to him and his partner.
“I worked from 7am to 11pm every day for 5 1/2 months, as well as handling any situations that arose during the night,” Dan May wrote in a letter to council, asking for a raise in fees. “As we learned in the past year, no other campgrounds with an equivalent number of sites have only one person managing and operating it, because it is not a one-person job.”
May says an increase in camping and waste-dumping fees would help keep the business profitable and growing. He also provided numbers showing the municipal campground is the cheapest in the area, about $18 a night cheaper than the most expensive local private campground.
Recreation and Parks Director Terry Welsh told council May’s reasons were solid.
“There’s no question we’ve seen a qualitative increase in service level delivery… and the general upkeep of the campground,” he says. “We agree we should be doing this.”
Council agreed, voting to increase rates from $27 a night for a powered site to $30, from $22 to $25 for a non-power site, and from $19 to $21 for an overflow site. The village will also start charging $5 for a sani-dump.
The increase is expected to bring at least an extra $9,800 into the operation. It’s been four years since the last increase at the campground.