Dear Editor:
“Let’s sit down and have a nice cup of tea while problem-solving.”
Summerland’s Banks Crescent proposal is not that simple. Almost a third of the electorate has signed a petition against it. Why? It sounds nice. Age in place! Buy a condo, then when you need more help, there’d be care beds.
Out of 424 condos, how many care spaces would there be? Built when? “It all depends on market conditions.”
Last retort: About 59 care spaces. When? No exact answer.
Location: On potentially unstable land in a gulch surrounded by red zone. Two landslides occurred there from burst irrigation pipes.
With our changing climate, what could happen from torrential rains?
Much of that land is composed of glacial silt. A UBC geology paper declared: “Glacial silt is intrinsically collapsible.”
I have lived here a long time and have seen two catastrophic collapses of the cliffs in lower town, numerous landslides and sinkholes open up in Summerland, Sage Mesa, above Naramata and on the West Bench.
A geotechnical study was done before Tuscan Terrace was built. Now some residences are slipping. Okanagan Geology South by Murray A. Roed and Robert J. Fulton, explains our hazards.
Why can a developer threaten the existence of B.C.’s oldest fish hatchery by building over Shaughnessy Spring, the only water source for the hatchery?
Can Lark supply other water of the same consistent chemistry and temperature?
Would construction cause water turbidity?
Could one of Summerland’s two existing water licenses be used to take water from the lake? Okanagan lake water doesn’t have the same chemistry or consistent temperature.
Costs of supplying correct replacement water in perpetuity? Summerland will need that water license in the future.
Liability is a huge issue. There is an aquifer under Banks Crescent. Nobody knows the exact configuration of it.
An aquifer was breached by a driller in Vancouver. Costs to taxpayers so far? Almost $10 million.
There have been large costs to North Vancouver taxpayers for slippages. Our CAO admitted: We Summerland taxpayers would be partly liable for any slippages of the development.
Banks Crescent doesn’t fit our OCP with density far from Summerland’s centre. I wouldn’t want to be stuck there if I couldn’t drive. Hillside walking is too steep for many seniors.
Well, my cup of tea has been drained. Now what? We haven’t solved the problem yet.
Marilyn Hansen
Summerland