Kick-Off of Resort Municipality Initiative Project in Golden

Monday, May 11, 2015

Kick-Off of Resort Municipality Initiative Project in Golden

By Town of Golden

GOLDEN - The Town of Golden is pleased to announce the official construction start of the community’s largest Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI) project to date, the Highway 1 Corridor Enhancement. Valued at over $500,000 in this initial phase, the project includes significant landscaping improvements to the Highway 1 public boulevards adjacent to Boston Pizza on the east and Tim Horton’s on the west, with substantial completion anticipated by early July. “This project represents the essence of what the RMI program is about for us”, said Mayor Ron Oszust. “It provides us the ability to fund improvements in our community that the destination traveler has come to expect and we could otherwise never afford.” Administered jointly between town staff and its retained engineering consultant MMM Group, the construction is under the competent management of Sierra Landscaping based in the Lake Country area of the Okanagan, which intends to include some local hires on the job. “We had a fantastic visioning and participation session with tourism sector businesses in the area for this project”, said Jon Wilsgard, Chief Administrative Officer for the town. “It’s a year behind because we needed to ensure we received value for money, and it’s great to finally be at this point.” “This is one of those great projects where everyone is excited to see it happen”, said Joanne Sweeting, Marketing Manager for Tourism Golden and member of the RMI Advisory Committee. “This project will provide wonderful aesthetic improvement to the entry points of our highway corridor area, giving tourists a great initial impression of our community.” The Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI) funding program is managed by the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and intended to assist small, tourism-based municipalities to support and increase visitation. Since these municipalities typically have a small tax base due to their size, the demands of their tourism activity often strain the resources available to provide infrastructure and event programming. RMI funding allows these communities to dedicate resources to improving tourism-based infrastructure and amenities to attract more visitors and encourage longer stays.