Nelson City Council has agreed to provide a back-up contingency fund of $100,000 to the Nelson Electric Tramway Society to support a $1-million tourism grant application to the provincial government.
The grant would fund the replacement of the tracks on the entire streetcar run between Lakeside Park and the Nelson airport.
Nelson’s cultural development officer Joy Barrett, speaking for the society at council’s March 3 meeting, said the $100,000 contingency fund would probably not be spent. But the granting agency — the Destination Development Fund — requires that the applicant have access to $200,000 as a contingency in case of cost overruns. The tramway society itself will guarantee the other $100,000.
If the city’s portion of the contingency fund is needed, Barrett said, the city could apply to the Columbia Basin Trust to fund it.
Council agreed to provide this contingency fund, and also promised a letter of support for the grant application as well as a $50,000 in-kind contribution to landscaping improvements during the track replacement.
City manager Kevin Cormack said the city will be upgrading the waterfront pathway in front of the new Shorelines housing development beside the Chahko Mika Mall, so this in-kind contribution could mesh with that work.
Councillor Jesse Pineiro asked if there has ever been any discussion about upgrading the streetcar so that it becomes part of Nelson’s transit system.
Cormack said extending the tramway into the downtown is envisioned in the city’s Downtown and Waterfront Master Plan and is therefore part of long-term planning, but he doubts that CP Rail would allow a crossing for it. He said the city has also talked to BC Transit about this, with no results.
READ MORE:
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• Nelson’s streetcar needs donations for urgent track repairs
• Nelson streetcar track repairs underway, new season starts May 20
bill.metcalfe@nelsonstar.com
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