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LETTER: Community needs plan for the future

Agricultural Land Commission was denied the right to rule on a OCP amendment
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Dear Editor:

This Banks Crescent Development proposal issue is just one more example of how things go terribly wrong whenever there is no plan for the future.

In Summerland we have a 40-plus year history of haphazard development proposals due to our failure to present a long term community plan to the Agriculture Land Commission.

I would think after years of less than desirable projects such as Deer Ridge, James Lake south, Rock Garden Estates, Cartwright Mountain, and now Rattlesnake Mountain and Banks Crescent, that we as a community would come together and realize long term community planning is a necessity.

Prior to our sanitary sewer installation in the 1990s, there was legitimate reason why development had to extend to outlying areas and steep hillsides but there is no reason now to continue that requirement.

The only lands available for development are in obscure locations and are only being considered because they are outside of the Agricultural Land Reserve.

It is unfortunate that two and a half years ago the Agricultural Land Commission was denied the right to rule on a OCP amendment that did actually draft a long range Urban Growth Area.

This area was chosen after extensive community input and consultation with the commission and with the help of an independent consulting firm.

Granted this proposal did require adjustment to some ALR boundaries and may not have met with everyone’s approval, but it did provide an avenue for future growth.

Had the commission been allowed to rule on this proposal it is doubtful that we would now be dealing with questionable projects like Banks Crescent.

Last week’s guest column in the Summerland Review (Development proposal is fracturing the community, by Don Gemmell) did an excellent job of highlighting some of the challenges we face and it seems that to date we have been unwilling to tackle.

Hopefully, dealing with proposals like we are now faced with will unite rather than divide the community.

Quotes from last week’s column:

“Summerland needs to adopt a community-wide conversation that will result in a consensus on how the town should evolve.”

“Let’s begin to talk about community heart.”

“Community heart is about pride and emotional attachment.”

How about if this council were to re-initiate the planning process that went on for over a year and give us another chance to actually participate in the process.

We might even get a better participation rate,

now that residents can see first hand what type of developments are being proposed when there is no viable Urban Growth Area planned.

That’s my hope for the future.

Don Hudgeon

Summerland