An online poll about a proposed provincial prison in Summerland has shown enough interest in the plan for the municipality to investigate it further.
By the time the votes were counted there were 485 in favour and 384 opposed
That works out to 56 per cent in favour and 44 per cent opposed.
“It was not a scientific survey, but it did give us a feel for what people wanted,” said Mayor Janice Perrino.
She said the results were counted carefully to ensure people had not voted more than once on the survey.
Those who could not vote online were able to come to municipal hall and fill out a form there.
Perrino said the survey results do not mean Summerland is guaranteed to get a prison.
“The survey was to find out whether the community wanted us to look further into it,” she said.
While communities could state whether they were interested in becoming home to a provincial prison in the Okanagan, the final decision rests with the provincial government.
With the results of the survey in place, the next step for the municipality will be to host an open house about the project.
The open house will feature officials from the Ministry of Corrections Services to answer questions about a prison in the community. It will also show some proposed location options.
“Our goal is to keep the public involved as much as possible and to let this be a community decision,” Perrino said.
The open house will be held at Centre Stage Theatre on Monday, March 7 beginning at 6:30 p.m.