Nestled in the heart of the South Okanagan, Oliver is known as a hub of wine culture. It is also a small town with a vision for a vibrant downtown serving as the hub of a prosperous community. A longstanding piece of this vision has been the revitalization of underutilized land along Station Street, sitting between the Town Centre and the Okanagan River.
Station Street had been consistently acknowledged as an opportunity, having significant planning resources invested into previous strategies and concepts for the site, but the foundational work needed an update. Consensus on a clear unified vision was essential for the Town of Oliver to strengthen its economic development by revitalizing this important piece of the downtown core.
In the Summer of 2023, the Town of Oliver leveraged funding from ETSI-BC to launch a process to update the Station Street Concept Plan with a fresh look at timely needs regarding downtown housing, retail, and amenities.
“We were able to bring the visions from all those plans into one shared vision and reinforce that with council,” explains Randy Houle, Director of Development Services at the Town of Oliver. “With the funding we were able to bring those ideas together to move it forward.”
Consultations for a Clear Vision
The support from ETSI-BC gave Houle the additional resources to bring outside expertise to Oliver, adding depth and scope to the research and engagement.
“The funding from ETSI-BC allowed us to bring a consulting team to conduct multiple workshops with council to get everyone on the same page where we can now look at consultation with the public and moving things forward,” says Houle. He noted that the funding vastly elevated what they could do, from workshop facilitation to professional graphics and scenario presentations.
With a clear vision, the previous decades of planning work are now coming to life in a strategy that reflects a vision shared by today’s leadership. This opens the door for the Town of Oliver to move forward with feasibility studies and public consultation.
Reinvigorating the Surrounding Area
The unique Station Street site is connected to a larger network of recreation facilities, parks, and a multi-modal pathway along the river. This makes it an important asset to steward. Re-development of the areas surrounding Station Street is underway, including a new hotel, improvements to roads and sidewalks as well as land across from the plaza slated for construction of a mixed-use building.
With a unified vision for the plaza, progress can keep in step with the redevelopment of the surrounding area. Houle notes continued positive strides moving from planning into action, with a summer farmers market activating the site in the short term.
Attracting New Residents and Businesses
The updated plan brings a vision to life for new downtown residential development – something Oliver hasn’t seen in decades. Options outlined in the updated plan all include mixed-use buildings with retail, restaurant, and cafe spaces plus connectivity to the river, Lions Park, and Main Street.
“What we’re really trying to do in Oliver, which hasn’t been done in a long time, is build housing in the downtown area,” explains Houle, who sees opportunity creating new jobs with the construction and attracting businesses to relocate to this area.
Attracting and retaining businesses along Station Street and in the Town Centre would be significant as businesses and events animate the area and the community begins to use the plaza, especially attracting more people to live downtown.
The redevelopment is a pivotal part of the goal to encourage the development of Oliver as an economically thriving community, contributing to a vibrant core and building better connections to the downtown. This work builds on prior projects supported by ETSI-BC advancing downtown beautification, transportation, and wayfinding, all reinforcing Oliver’s downtown as an economic hub.
Houle hopes others in the BC’s Southern Interior will benefit from the same success Oliver has seen with projects supported by ETSI-BC. He adds, “I would tell people to follow and engage with ETSI-BC because they’ve been very gracious to help contribute to multiple projects supporting Oliver’s economic development endeavors.”