Regular Council Meeting - April 14, 2026

City Hall front exterior

Consideration of Bylaws

Home-based Business Zoning Updates

Council adopted Zoning Amendment Bylaw No. 55-107, 2026, expanding the range of one-person home-based businesses permitted to receive clients.
This change follows the 2025 KAMPLAN update, which recommended supporting small-scale start-ups while limiting client visits, parking, and hours of operation to minimize impacts on residential neighbourhoods and commercial districts.

Newly eligible home-based businesses that may receive clients include:

  • bookkeeping and accounting
  • marketing  and advertising consulting
  • insurance services
  • musical instrument repair, maintenance, and tuning
  • clothing alteration, repair, and sewing
  • counselling and coaching
  • visual arts, painting, and on-site crafts
  • on-site agricultural products

The amendment also removes restrictions on office use for C6-zoned properties abutting Notre Dame Drive.

View the full Council report from February 3, 2026.

Financial Plan Bylaw

Council adopted City of Kamloops Financial Plan Bylaw No. 16-331, 2026, which maps out the City's revenue and spending for the next five years. The proposed operating budget and tax rates were completed throughout a lengthy budget development process and review of various priorities.

More information on the budgeting process is available on LetsTalk.Kamloops.ca/Budget2026.

Reports to Council

Presentation of the 2025 Audited Financial Statements

Mario Piroddi, Partner, Assurance, BDO Canada LLP, provided Council with a report on the City of Kamloops’ audited financial statements. The audit was completed in March 2025 and did not identify any necessary changes to the City’s planned financial approach, or any internal control issues.

Alternative Approval Processes 

David Hallinan, the City's Corporate Services Director, provided Council with a report seeking authorization to execute alternative approval processes for:

  • 965 McMaster Way Loan Authorization Bylaw No. 57-4, 2025: authorizing borrowing no more than $16,750,000 to be repaid over a period not exceeding thirty (30) years to finance the purchase and improvement of 965 McMaster Way
  • Tranquille Phase III Loan Authorization Bylaw No. 57-5, 2025: authorizing borrowing no more than $9,000,000 to be repaid over a period not exceeding thirty (30) years to finance the design, construction, and commissioning of Phase III of the Tranquille Road Sanitary Main and Road Enhancement Project

On October 7, 2025, Council postponed consideration of these alternative approval processes due to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers strike. Two other borrowing bylaws were being considered at that time; however, Council decided not to move forward with borrowing for the Kamloops Centre for Water Quality Upgrade Project (the bylaw was rescinded), opting instead to fund it through the existing water utility, and the Kamloops Police Services Building project is still on hold.

Council authorized the alternative approval processes for 965 McMaster Way Loan Authorization Bylaw No. 57-4, 2025, and Tranquille Phase III Loan Authorization Bylaw No. 57-5, 2025, setting an elector response deadline of May 29, 2026. Based on the approved number of eligible electors (85,273), a threshold of 8,527 responses would be needed before the deadline to stop either bylaw from moving forward.

The Statutory Notice Elector Forms will be available to the public as of Monday, April 20, 2026, providing a 38-day window for response.

Rights-of-Way, Boulevard, and Median Vegetation Management Update

Jeff Putnam, the City's Parks and Street Manager, provided Council with a report outlining current vegetation management service levels, challenges in maintaining these levels on City-owned land, opportunities to enhance enforcement on private property, and options to improve overall service level delivery. The report is in response to a notice of motion from October 21, 2025.

Several challenges are affecting the City’s ability to consistently meet existing vegetation management standards, including increased seasonal growth, increased wildfire interface risk, a lack of public clarity about standards and private land owner responsibilities, resource restraints, and community growth increasing the quantity of vegetation spaces to maintain.

After being provided options to optimize existing tools, enhance service levels, run an educational public awareness campaign, and increase enforcement to address current challenges, Council directed staff to move forward with:

  • Option 1: maintain the status quo, with ongoing efforts to optimize Community Services enforcement on private properties using existing budgets
  • Option 2: return to Council with a report outlining costed options for enhancing service levels
  • Option 3: develop an education awareness campaign to clarify vegetation management standards and clearly delineate City versus private property (using existing budgets)

 

Public Engagement Opportunities

Council received an update on upcoming community engagement opportunities, as listed below.

Advocacy Update

  • Meeting requests have been sent for Christine Boyle, provincial Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs; Ravi Parmar, provincial Minister of Forests; Ravi Kahlon, provincial Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth; and Gregor Robertson, federal Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and Minister Responsible for Pacific Economic Development Canada.
  • Members of the Kamloops Airport Authority Society met with Member of Parliament Frank Caputo on April 7, 2026, to discuss potential airport land developments.

Community Collaboration Activities

  • Clean the Beach Day is on April 19, 2026, from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at Riverside Park. This family-friendly gathering invites residents to come together in a collective effort to clean our riverbanks. Volunteers will collect litter on specific routes along the shoreline near Riverside Park and Overlanders Park. Register to volunteer at Kamloops.ca/CleantheBeach.
  • The Annual Volunteer BBQ is back! Residents are invited to join us for this free event on Friday, April 24, 2026, from 11:30 to 1:30 pm at Sandman Centre.
  • Join the City to explore meaningful work that makes a difference locally by attending a Civic Careers Day on April 29, 2026, from 1:00 to 5:00 pm at the Tournament Capital Centre - Meeting Rooms B, C and D.
  • Saturday, May 9, 2026, is Emergency Services Day. Join the City’s free event at McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre’s south side parking lot between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm.

Follow On Let's Talk Website

Subscribe to ongoing projects to be notified when engagement opportunities arise:

Committee Reports

In response to recommendations from the March 31, 2026, Committee of the Whole meeting, Council gave the following directions to staff:

  • remove the development cost charge exemption for not-for-profit rental housing altogether from the Development Cost Charges Bylaw
  • include cash-in-lieu contributions for density bonus provisions in the City’s Zoning Bylaw as a revenue source for the Affordable Housing Reserve Fund to offset development cost charges for not-for-profit affordable rental housing and incentivize recovery-oriented supportive housing
  • continue to rely on the 15% profit sharing program as a revenue source for the Affordable Housing Reserve Fund to offset development cost charges for not-for-profit affordable rental housing and incentivize recovery-oriented supportive housing 
  • institute a fee-based registry for residential suites as a revenue source for the Affordable Housing Reserve Fund to offset development cost charges for not-for-profit affordable rental housing and incentivize recovery-oriented supportive housing
  • update Council Policy No. EDS-19, Affordable Housing Reserve Fund, to clarify how available funds will be allocated to support a diversity of housing needs and housing tenure systems across the housing spectrum for Council’s consideration
  • prepare amendments to Traffic Bylaw No. 23-30, Fees and Charges Bylaw No. 44-14, and Municipal Ticket Information Bylaw No. 43-15 for Council’s consideration to reflect adjustments to parking rates, fines, and event parking, as outlined in the March 31, 2026, Parking Management and Rates report
  • begin implementing the proposed changes to the parking service, as outlined in the March 31, 2026, Parking Management and Rates report 

Councillor Reports

In response to Councillor Hall's report, Council passed a motion to send a letter of support to Matt Kolle and the Kamloops Storm as they seek status as a Junior A Hockey Team in a Tier 1 division for the 2026–2027 season.

Correspondence 

Council reviewed correspondence received from BC Transit , signaling a lack of any expanded service funding in the 2026/2027 operating budget. Council authorized staff to respond with a letter to the provincial government, with copies to both local MLAs, asking that they deliver the transit hours previously discussed, which are desperately needed in Kamloops as a growing city with such a fantastic transit user population.