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Thursday, June 27, 2019
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Cannabis farm hopes to use village water
Latest round of Columbia River Treaty talks wraps up
What Broadway looked like in the early ’70s
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Nakusp winery hopes for summer opening Nakusp’s own winery, Valley of the Springs, is nearing the end of a long process. Brenda and Jody Scott (pictured) are waiting for confirmation of rezoning following only a few more steps, including a public hearing held Monday after the Arrow Lakes News’ deadline. If all goes through, the winery is expected to open in August on Alexander Road with a tasting room and lounge, as well as a manufacturing facility to process the grapes, grown on the property.
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Nakusp dips into gas tax reserve fund to fix arena JOHN BOIVIN Arrow Lakes News
Fixing the Nakusp arena’s cooling system has cost the village a pretty penny. Council heard recently it’s going to take an extra $50,000 to repair the arena’s cooling system, nearly 50 per cent more than originally budgeted. “We were a caught a little off guard by this one,” says Mayor Tom Zeleznik.
Problems with the compressors first brought the electricians in to check the system, says Zeleznik. However, workers soon found a host of problems, from poorly installed “soft starters” for the system, to worn bearings to unmapped electrical schematics. “They found it was more an electrical problem causing the compressors to fail,” says Zeleznik. “They normally have a 15-to-20 year lifespan, but for us they were only lasting three to eight years.
“But now they found the reason, so hopefully we will get longer use out of them.” But making the fix was expensive. The repairs as budgeted were $96,508. The additional work cost $48,311, bringing the total for the project to $144,819. But the village caught a break: this year it received a one-time boost to its community works reserve, or gas tax grant, from the federal government. The village had more than $180,000 in the
fund it could access. Having dodged a big budget bullet, Zeleznik says it’s time for the community to talk about the arena and how to make better use of it. “It’s something you call a big elephant,” he says. “It would be good to sit down with the community, with the regional district, and talk about ways to make the arena more active, to be able to raise more money to help support it. “But it’s not unusual, most small communities run into this problem.”
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