Municipal council has submitted a potential site for a provincial correctional facility in Summerland.
The site chosen, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure’s gravel pit on Highway 97, will be part of the South Okanagan application to the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General.
It is north of Cristante Avenue and west of Highway 97. It is one of five Summerland sites which had been suggested for a prison location.
Mayor Janice Perrino said the location is a good choice.“Council believes this site makes sense in the long term, is already owned by the province and will be the least intrusive on our community,” she said.
“There are many positives about this piece of land.”
Because of its location, Perrino said it will not interfere with future development plans in the community.
By selecting it, she said the Summerland Hills site at the western edge of the municipality remains available for golf course or residential development in the future.
“You want to leave as many options open as possible,” she said.Coun. Ken Roberge said the location was the least obtrusive of the options presented.“That site was, for me, the only one I would consider supporting for a submission to the province,” he said.
He added that although he was willing to back this site selection, he still has his reservations about bringing a provincial correctional facility into the community.
“It in no way suggests I have at this point taken a different position about how I personally feel about having a facility in Summerland,” he said.
Discussions on having a provincial facility have been divisive in the community.
A recent poll conducted by the municipality following a public meeting on the facility showed 52 per cent of respondents in favour of the proposed facility, 45 per cent opposed and three per cent undecided.
“This is the best compromise, particularly for the 50 per cent of our community who are deeply against having a correctional facility in our community,” Perrino said.
Roberge said the submission of the site does not mean a prison will be constructed there.Before a prison site is approved, the province must come back to the community and express interest in the site.
Then the community must decide whether to change the zoning and amend the Official Community Plan in order to allow for the facility to be constructed.The proposed correctional facility is to be constructed somewhere in the Okanagan by 2015.
It will be a 360-cell provincial facility.Those incarcerated will include provincial prisoners serving sentences of two years or less and prisoners remanded and awaiting trial.
According to officials from the B.C. Corrections Service, 47 per cent of prisoners will be serving provincial sentences, while 53 per cent will be remanded, awaiting trial for federal or provincial offenses.