A leader of the local business community believes Summerland would undo the achievements of the past if it were to become the site of a new proposed correctional facility.
“It seems kind of opposite to how we have been trying to build this community,” said Roger Gillespie, owner of the Victoria Road Deli and Bistro who currently serves as president of the Summerland Chamber of Economic Development and Tourism.
This statement from Gillespie — who speaks from himself rather than the chamber — is opposed to the prison proposal.
Mayor Janice Perrino has also voiced criticism about the facility, but has muted her public position in backing a public consultation process after growing support for the facility.
Gordon Clark and Peter Waterman — current and past councillors respectively — have publicly voiced support for the facility.
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen has also issued a statement in support of the facility, which appeared last year, when solicitor general Rich Coleman announced the provincial government is seeking a site in the Okanagan to build a new 360-cell correctional centre for use starting in 2015.
The facility would house individuals who are serving time for crimes with penalties that run less than two years in length.
Several Okanagan communities including Summerland and Penticton have since agreed to consult their citizens about the proposal prior to the application deadline April 1.
Summerland citizens have until Feb. 21 to voice their opinions.
Gillespie acknowledges that the facility could generate economic opportunities for the community.
By way of background, Summerland has lost several hundred jobs since the start of the Great Recession in 2008 in manufacturing and agriculture, a field whose structural decline has predated the current economic crisis.
Not surprisingly, the community has experienced a population decline with a growing number of the remaining individuals relying on public and non-public forms of charity.
Supporters of the facility have argued that it would generate a steady source of tax revenues for the community as tries to meet its various infrastructure and social needs.
Gillespie questions this. Summerland, he said, should continue to develop itself as a resort destination.
Two years ago, the community faced the prospects of becoming the site of a major golf resort, he said.
Now, it wants to attract a correction facility, the “polar opposite” of the resort proposal.
While Gillespie does not deny the possibility that Summerland could combine the prison proposal with other initiatives designed to improve economic fortunes, he questions the long-term impact of the prison proposal on the community’s reputation, and by implication, its long-term prospects.
“I believe it (the proposal) changes the perception of the town,” he said.
Gillespie is not alone with this opinion. Other local critics (primarily media but others as well) have expressed concerns that the presence of the facility would discourage would-be residents and investors fearful about the potential of crime.
With the deadline for public input coming up, it is not clear where the community stands.
Gillespie certainly does not know where the membership of his organization stands.
Some 750 chamber members have until Feb. 21 to answer the chamber’s survey.
Gillespie though expects a strong response rate.
“I would expect that we have a strong response. This is a sensitive issue for many people,” he said, adding that it leaves little middle-ground.
Gillespie is certainly clear about his position.
“It doesn’t excite me personally.”