The City of Nelson has received a provincial grant to install lighting and electrical service in the Cottonwood Falls Park stage and build a washroom on the site.
“We see this as serving tourism,” says the city’s head planner Sebastien Arcand, “but at the same time it’s good for for the local community as well – for the Cottonwood Market, for example.”
The $700,000 grant, one of many given for tourism infrastructure across the province, will also fund new directional signage within Nelson and replace the Welcome to Nelson signs at three entrances to the city.
The washroom will be located east of the market oval, against the hillside, Arcand said. The same building will also house a small concession stand, not to be open regularly but available for special events.
He said this location was chosen because “it was seen as a location that wouldn’t be in the way of future phases or future things that we need to install.”
Future phases could include housing on the former market site, as set out in the Railtown Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Plan.
Arcand said the grant will also fund an upgrade of the parking lot beside the Rod and Gun Club.
“We want to formalize that into a parking plaza with appropriate landscaping. That would become the main parking for the market.”
He said the city is in discussions with the Nelson and District Arts Council about the possibility of murals, also funded by the grant, on the back of the Nelson Leafs bottle depot building.
Related:
• Cottonwood Market stage construction resumes
• Nelson’s new Cottonwood Market location almost ready
bill.metcalfe@nelsonstar.com
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