St. Aidan's Church in Rutland is on the path to becoming an official heritage building.
Planner Terry Barton says it's been a long road.
"This has been the better part of a decade at work, that the city has been looking at restoring a number of heritage asset projects, he said.
"It was back in 2009 that council adopted the Heritage Asset Management Strategy, and that was after a number of years of community consultation, in which a number of groups came together to be able to come up with principles and objectives in an effort to try and save the number of heritage assets this city has."
On Monday, council gave its initial approval on the project, which sends it on to a future public hearing.
Barton says the building has been in Rutland for nearly 85 years.
"The heritage asset was completed way back in 1933, and it is valued as a symbol of the importance to the Anglican Church, and to the rule and early community of Rutland. It represents both the importance of local churches to rule settlements, and also the central role that they played in the community life of Rutland.")
Back in 2014, the Okanagan Buddhist Cultural Society agreed to buy the land from the city, on the condition they would restore the building, and convert the inside into a cultural centre.
"The property was once owned by the city, and then disposed of to the Buddhists under a land sales agreement, that saw a number of terms and conditions be realized, including the fixing up of the heritage asset, and a number of other conditions including a friendship garden, and some publicly accessible facilities," said Barton.
Plans include moving the building onto a new foundation, adding on a one-storey expansion, and planting a garden surrounding it.
The former Surtees farmstead in the Mission, along with the old Brent’s Grist Mill have also been identified as heritage sites in Kelowna.