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Prison sites shown

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Brent Marchant

Five potential sites for a provincial correctional facility have been identified in Summerland.

The sites were unveiled at a public meeting on Monday to explain details of the proposed facility.

Brent Marchant, assistant deputy minister of the B.C. Corrections Service said when the 360-unit facility is in operation, 53 per cent of the prisoners will be remanded and awaiting trail for various offenses while 47 per cent will be serving sentences.

The average length of a prisoner in remand is 37 days while the average length of time for a prisoner serving a sentence is 72 days.

The facility is for those sentenced for two years or less.

Crimes include break and enter, theft, robbery, cannabis trafficking and other offences.

The proposed Summerland facilities all may require environmental assessment and may also require subdivision.

In the northern portion of the community, a provincially owned site used as a gravel pit is one option. 

The site, covering more than 16 hectares, is more than 600 metres from a water main and three kilometres from the sewer line.

On Gilman Road, a 26-hectare parcel of open land more than 300 metres from the water main and three kilometres from the sewer line is suggested. This land is designated as open land.

On Fenwick Road, a 15-hectare parcel of open land is 650 metres from the water main and two kilometres from the sewer line.

A municpally-owned parcel on Cartwright Mountain, at around 10 hectares is 100 metres from the water main and one kilometre from the sewer line.

The former Summerland Hills Golf Resort site, a 20-hectare property at the western edge of the municipality, is also being considered.

This land is 1.5 kilometres from the water line and four kilometres from the sewer line.

Communities throughout the Okanagan are looking with interest at a proposed provincial prison to be built in the region by 2015.

While some communities have opted out of consideration, the final decision on where the facility will go is to be made by the province.

 



John Arendt

About the Author: John Arendt

John Arendt has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years. He has a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Journalism degree from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute.
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