A rejuvenation project for the Cominco Gardens in Kimberley will be going ahead thanks to $1 million from the provincial government.
Mayor Don McCormick said it’s an important tourism draw to the community but the upkeep has been declining.
“Over the years it became a really important asset for not just residents in town but also for visitors. We’ve built it as one of the top ten things to do and see in Kimberley,” he added.
“Over the last number of years, the lack of investment and available money in the asset has seen it be somewhat diminished. It certainly has seen better days.”
He said the city has looked at ways to improve the gardens and the provincial grant was a perfect opportunity.
“For a while now we’ve been trying to come up with a strategy on how we rejuvenate Cominco Gardens and what that might look like. The province came up with a tourism grant that was a really nice fit to enable us to literally rebuild Cominco Gardens.”
“We in fact have got $1 million, which is a huge grant to rebuild Cominco Gardens and restore it to its former glory.”
McCormick describes the extent of the repairs that are needed.
“When people think about Cominco Gardens they think about all of the various flowers and bushes and things that are around. We’re talking about something far greater than that, we’re talking about retaining walls needing to be replaced because they’re in disrepair,” he said.
“All of the infrastructure is going to be replaced and rebuilt with of course the flowers and the rose bushes and all the rest of it being rejuvenated as well. It’s a very, very extensive rebuild.”
There is no timeline yet for the project.