Five new tourism infrastructure projects totalling $125,000 were approved by Revelstoke council last week.
The funding comes from the Resort Municipality Initiative Fund, which is a program administered by the provincial government.
The biggest cheque goes to the Revelstoke Golf Club. They recived $65,000 to complete the purchase of their fleet of golf carts that are currently being leased. According to a letter from Greg Austin, the director of operations for the golf club, the funding will help the club towards its goal of long-term sustainability.
The City of Revelstoke received $30,000 for improved access and streetscape beautification along the Second Street entrance to city hall. The work will expand and improve pedestrian access to the Second Street entrance, add four trees to the sidewalk and “assist in framing city hall as a showcase building in the downtown,” wrote Mike Thomas, the director of engineering.
The Revelstoke Community Wave Park Society received $15,000 to conduct a feasibility study to build a whitewater wave park on the Illecillewaet River. The group plans on contracting S20 Designs to determine whether a standing wave could be created that would be large enough for a kayaker, surfer or standup paddleboarder.
The Revelstoke Climbing Coop was awarded $8,000 to replace aging equipment in climbing areas around Revelstoke. The coop is embarking on a 20-year project to replace and maintain all the hardware that has been installed on routes around Revelstoke. The first phase is to replace all the oldest equipment over the next 1.5 years. Mountain Equipment Coop donated $3,750 to the project. Most of the bolts installed on the routes were placed by volunteers at their own expense. The coop expects to spend about $60,000 over the course of the project, with the labour provided by the climbing community.
The Illecillewaet Greenbelt Society received $7,000 for new signs and two cedar benches for the network of trails along the greenbelt. The plan is to use local ceramic artists to create the signs,awhich would be mountaied to cedar posts. Wood carver Rod Aspeslet will be commissioned to create the eight-foot long cedar benches. The concept behind the benches is to have them look like the natural roots of a giant cedar tree when viewed from the side.
Council also approved a letter of thanks to Tom Gaglardi for advertising Revelstoke Mountain Resort on the board of Dallas Stars arena. Gaglardi owns the resort and the NHL team.
