Welcome!
The Village of Slocan is embarking on an ambitious journey to reimagine its recently acquired waterfront, transforming the former industrial mill site into a vibrant, community-driven space.
With a focus on leveraging Slocan’s strengths, this initiative aims to create a hub that reflects the values and aspirations of the community while offering new opportunities for economic diversity, sustainability, creative housing solutions, and year-round job creation.
This project aims to inspire the community to think about what’s possible… to share stories, grow our knowledge base, to look forward into the future and dream big.
This process focuses on public engagement to pave the way into a future Master Planning Process, to ensure that this future process is firmly rooted in the ideas of the broader community.
Join us in co-creating this story
We have an opportunity ahead of us – one to co-create a new community space. We want to inspire you to think about what’s possible for the mill site and capture these ideas to help us look ahead and plan for the future.
Join us for our weekend long Waterfront Commons Symposium
On May 24 & 25 we will kick off two days of events which will feature a keynote speaker, panel discussions, design workshops, and plenty of opportunities to learn and give feedback. Click here for more details.
Public engagement opportunities
Explore ways to get engaged through our website and stay tuned for new information and future opportunities. We want to ensure your voice is heard – if there are other ways you would like to give feedback, please feel welcome to reach out to us directly.
Check out our Digital Hub
Through this website, we will be sharing stories and ideas, and capturing your feedback. Use the menu link above to explore different information, ideas, and ways to get involved.
- Share feedback using our comment form below.
- The Waterfront Commons Symposium will provide plenty of opportunities to give feedback, so make sure to bring your great ideas with you.
- Have more to say? The best way to reach us is by emailing in your comments!
- Not an email person? Call the Village office anytime to chat directly.
Slocan’s Waterfront Commons: A Podcast Miniseries
Learn more about the Waterfront Commons Symposium and what to expect – tune in to the first episode with Village staff and Council below.
Keep In Touch With Us
Very excited to see this project kick off and hear everyone’s great ideas!
I am thrilled to see the village moving forward with planning the future use of this site. I look forward to participating in the upcoming community input sessions! What an opportunity for Slocan Valley Folk!
An exciting initiative, and an important opportunity!
Definitely time to get to work on this, of course acknowledging the efforts put in so far.
It’s obvious to me to start with re-naturalizing the creeks.
Everything else can then grow around and out of the natural assets of the site.
The relationship between the creeks, the lake, the land, and the creatures including us, has been interrupted by a long period of industrial activity which failed to recognize those fundamental aspects of our reality or the health of any of these things.
The existing concrete tunnels and sluiceways are an insult that should be addressed immediately, using whatever funds are available for establishing the natural riparian park areas that will anchor and guide the vision for the rest of our built environment.
Give the creeks as much space as they demand in any sense, consulting hydrologists, biologists, and parents with strollers, for instance.
The fundamentals like roads, bridges, and buildings will then fall into place, making sure to enhance and honour the creeks and the lake with the respect that the waters deserve, eh?
Should work, gonna be great!
I highly recommend “A Pattern Language” by Christopher Alexander and crew, for anyone looking for a guide to help in planning such an all encompassing project.
Clean up action I assume is required.
Daylight and Restore the creek with improved riparian edge.
Create Walkable spaces.
Look for opportunities to activate the space consider mixed use with an extension of the waterfront park.
Celebrate the history of this amazing place.
Consider site lines to the lake.
Improve the boating access.
Consider waterfront promenade with frontage mixed use and connecting creek walk.
With the lake, Valhalla Park, and many opportunities for small businesses ie. hiking, bicycle trails, tours to old mines, along with the rails to trails. There is a need to contact a large Real Estate firm to view the site, to encourage a corporation to propose as a holiday destination. Also the north east corner would be ideal as a marina. I would also suggest for the existing beach park plus the designated park land on the mill site be a shared park with the RDCK. This would bring much needed tax dollars as most of the beach and boat owners are valley residence. It might also be helpful to invite the First Nations people as as participants to the planning exercise.
create a place where residents can be active together- meet up spaces, activities to share with visitors, remember the past and project a beautiful future.
Some lake activity and climbing facility focused park, some wild space with a cafe, some low-rise (4 plex style) good quality housing by a local contractor (for a fixed fee or IPD contract), co-working space and affordable mini-industrial/manufacturing units for diverse business uses, storage area and live-work units. Community tool library.
I would like to see Kokanee spawning again in Springer Creek. I remember seeing them in the 1990s but have not seen any spawners in years.
Protected waterfront and creek with community gardens. Non-motorized boat area (kayak’s, canoes, paddleboat storage area. A small amphitheatre that can be used for music venues/outdoor theatre, etc.
Water-based entertainment and services. Laundromat. Kid’s water park. Laundromat. 365/year washrooms and water tap. Laundromat. Car wash. Laundromat.
One wish, an incredibly difficult request, though I’d like to see complete eco restoration of Springer Creek. That would be restoring it to what it may have looked like before contact. I imagine this site has deep spiritual value to the indigenous people. They would have fished and camped there as it was a south entrance corridor to other fishing and camping areas on the east and west sides of the lake as they paddled their way northward toward the north headlands of the lake. The people of today can work and build a future for posterity with an eco restoration consciousness that transcends the desires for wealth that many consider an obligatory notion. The real wealth lies in healthy citizenry that are both mentally and physically fit. They are because they choose to be true stewards of the land. They live and breathe water, land and air. They do it with a spiritual consciousness that attracts people of like minds that choose to bring back the land to its former glory. Beauty of landscape, water and lakefront as it was before contact is how it should eternally be maintained. Procurement of food and fish for sustenance are more than romantic notions. These things can happen again if we bare the enormous responsibility of stewardship. Are we up to the challenge? Local people can do this. We already are the envy of the world. Imagine yourselves as stewards of Natures Shangri-La, the Gateway to the Valhallas. We can’t un ring the bell, but if we choose complete eco restoration as our goal though we may not see it in our lifetime, we will have lighted the torch that posterity lovingly and willingly will carry. If I had one wish for this space I can tell you that “successfully inspiring posterity to do the right thing”, is it.
Here’s an idea. After recently watching many youtube videos about Tiny Houses, I’m intrigued with the many positive qualities they offer. Affordable, space efficient inside and out, movable, so many attractive and creative design options. What if there could be a facility on site that could build them, creating jobs for many skilled trades people. Also a small “tiny house village” that could showcase them, where people could rent a pad to place them on, either owning or renting the home, which could generate income for the Village. It’s just one more idea to add to the list of possibilities since we’re just brainstorming.
I think the Mill site represents a great potential for Slocan to re-invent and envigorate itself as a beautiful place for outdoor recreation. There is great rock climbing a short stroll away. Mountain biking a short ride away. Not to mention the lake activities and winter recreation.
My hope for the site is that it can encorporate these and make it a destination for outdoor adventure to bring in the much needed economic benefits and enhance the waterfronts beauty, useability and accessibility.
Ideas like waterfront market area, promenade, adventure playground maybe a cafe or gear rental with housing above the retail. The commerce would need a draw or attraction through hiking and biking trails and climbing route development. To make it more of a stopping point to stay at.
I’m looking forward to see what gets proposed.
I think the most important aspect of this redevelopment is that the beach be extended from the confluence to the over to the highway and that that space be protected from any future commercial development whatsoever most especially housing and industrial development. That whole strip should be an extension of Valhalla provincial park or its own provincially protected park space.
Further in, restoring as much of the space to green as possible is one option, perhaps making the whole area a combination public park with a section for camping.
A large sprawling play park similar to the one in Nakusp would also be most appropriate given the family oriented nature of the valley.
A rewilding / park strategy would require that the creek to as natural a state as possible buffered by natural or ‘encouraged’ rewilding and regrowth on each bank.
Alternatively, if that area was to be developed, I foresee a large community centre with an arts and outdoor education / Sinixt educational component.
Another development idea might be a large flexible community theatre space where live music, stage plays, films and other live or recorded entertainment types can be played. This could be a draw for the town while taking advantage of the enormous talent in the community itself.
A larger supermarket and food distribution hub with subsidized grocery options might be a help to the lower income families in this community.
A blended residential area with a variety of housing types tightly integrated could be constructed in the south eastern quadrant by the village office.
Please, please no tim hortons, malls or million dollar homes on the shore. And please let us share this opportunity with our local indigenous community and leaders.
For maintenance to be an integral plan to the overall initiative. Imagining and then building is the fun part, ensuring the build stays pristine is a different beast. Example- grooming the beaches during the summer months, or mowing/trimming/landscaping/snow clearing, regular garbage pickup, public bathroom cleanliness, etc.