Kimberley Mayor Don McCormick is happy with the community’s growth in 2023.
McCormick said the community has seen an explosion in residential development throughout the year, with 152 new dwelling units built in Kimberley.
“We hit record levels for the number of new dwellings last year. I think our previous best year dated back to when the resort was built in the early 2000s, and that was around 85,” said McCormick. “This was an incredible year for adding new doors and new accommodation for folks looking to live in Kimberley.”
McCormick said building permit numbers from 2023 show a positive change for the community.
“The growth in new homes has not kept up with the growth of population. In the last couple of years, we found ourselves with a real shortage, and developers are taking advantage of it,” said McCormick. “They see the opportunity to invest in the community and we have more than a dozen projects that are currently underway.”
However, rapid growth can present some difficulties if a municipality is unprepared.
“City services and our ability to expand those as residents and the community needs it is always a challenge. Our growth has been happening in a very modest way, which is enabling us to keep up with those particular demands,” said McCormick. “We have lots of infrastructure to support this growth, we just need to make sure that, from a municipal level, we can continue to provide the service levels that residents expect.”
The mayor is hopeful that Kimberley’s record-breaking building permit numbers represent a bright future for the community.
“Construction doesn’t happen overnight, and a lot of these multi-unit residential buildings have been in the queue for a while now and are starting to come to fruition,” said McCormick. “I think we can look forward to this kind of growth in accommodations for the next year or two.”