Efforts are underway to recognize an Armstrong landmark.
City of Armstrong representatives have asked the North Okanagan-Shuswap School District board if it would voluntarily apply to have Armstrong Elementary School designated as a heritage building.
City administrator Patty Ferguson gave a presentation about what heritage designation entails and why the 1912 brick school is so important to the community.
“The heritage designation is not scary. We promise,” she said, adding that council would work with the district to ensure the heritage bylaw was agreeable to both parties.
“We’re not demanding. What we’re asking for is a partnership.”
Ferguson noted that Armstrong Elementary is not only important to Armstrong/Spallumcheen’s history, it is also of provincial significance.
“This was the very first consolidated school in the province,” she said. “It was also served by the first bus system in B.C.”
If the school was designated a heritage building, it could qualify for a local heritage property grant program (up to $2,000 annually in matching grants from the city), as well provincial and federal grants.
Board chair Bobbi Johnson says the information has been received and it will be considered by the district.
