Kimberley Mayor Don McCormick says 2024 did not have many major milestones for the community, but it was a year of small positive changes.
Kimberley saw plenty of leadership changes throughout the year, within the municipal government and in other local organizations.
“We started out the year with a new CAO, Jim Hendricks, who’s not new to Kimberley, but he’s new to that position. We have a new Kimberley Tourism Director and a number of other organizations saw new people come into play,” said McCormick.
“Through 2024, I think a lot of these organizations around town underwent some change and got their feet on the ground to get ready to take on a leadership role heading into 2025.”
Kimberley welcomed someone new into council chambers, with Diana Fox winning a seat through a by-election.
“We got another new person in a leadership position, with the election of a new councillor,” said McCormick.
“By-elections are not all that common, so going through one this year was an interesting experience for us at the city and for residents.”
McCormick says Kimberley saw plenty of new construction getting underway through 2024, which will help the community relieve some pressure from its strained housing market.
“As with many communities across the province, housing has been a big challenge, but 2024 was the year that, I believe, we have turned the corner,” said McCormick.
“We have a long way to go, but we have shovels in the ground on a number of major projects that will add 100 or so residential doors to the inventory we have in Kimberley.”
This has added to the housing inventory that has been added in previous years.
“Over the last two years, we have added somewhere in the neighbourhood of 200 to 250 new residences,” said McCormick.
“The pressure we’ve had over the last few years is not quite as extreme.”
However, that new construction has come with a heightened price tag.
“People’s perception of affordability on a lot of these properties is changing. The big challenge is the cost of construction,” explained McCormick.
“Everybody is dealing with those costs, and being able to build affordable housing with those rising costs has been a huge challenge for our development and building community.”
McCormick says he hopes to see Kimberley build more momentum towards tackling the housing shortage in 2025.
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