Recharging at Visitor Centre

The Oliver Visitors Centre will be the site of a dual-outlet charging station for electric cars. Two other options – Town Hall and a Parks and Recreation site near the lawn bowling facility – were rejected in favour of the old CPR building. Operations director Shawn Goodsell told council he believes that the charging station could be installed within the $7000 budget allocated earlier. The initial recommendation from staff was for one stand-alone charging station that could service all makes of electric cars, rather than accept an offer for a free Tesla-only station offered by Tesla Motors.
Council instructed staff to pursue the idea of installing one all-vehicle outlet as well as the free one from Tesla.

Sister cities hand-off

The Town of Oliver has delegated the management of its Sister Cities Program to the Oliver Tourism Association (OTA). The association will oversee the sister city agreements with Lake Chelan in Washington state and Bandai, Japan, including the money in the town’s budget for the program. The OTA becomes responsible for hosting delegations from the two sister cities and purchasing corporate gifts related to the visits. As well, one-third of the cost of airline tickets or youths and chaperones traveling to Bandai are covered. The town grants are $1000 for the Lake Chelan program and $2500 for Bandai.

Seamstress shop OK’d

Oliver council agreed to “think outside the box” Monday as it approved an application for a seamstress shop in the building currently occupied by Okanagan College. In recommending the temporary use permit, Chief Administrative Officer Heidi Frank told council that staff has been encouraged to think outside the box in efforts to attract an encourage businesses in the town. The seamstress shop is not an allowable use under the current zoning of the property, but council approved the temporary usage.

Gallagher Lake plan
The perils of highway traffic zooming through the community of Gallagher Lake is a key issue that needs to be addressed in the current development of an Official Community Plan for the area, Mayor Ron Hovanes said Monday. Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen development service manager Donna Butler told council Monday that such a plan is under way and should be completed later this year. She appeared to inform council of the plan’s development and to invite “preliminary comments … ahead of the envelopment of a Draft Area Plan.” Hovanes pointed to the traffic on Highway 97 street lighting as “the biggest issue I’ve heard.”