Meeting over... so how was it?
Well, we attended the meeting last night at the baptist church, and overall I'd say we came away with a positive impression. Certainly a good effort was made by council & the planners to provide some much-needed (by me, at least) background information and visual aids. As far as specific issues go, I'm still digesting but I'd be really interested to hear what others had to say about the experience. Comments?
In the meantime please remember to fill out the questionnaires that were provided both by council and a group of concerned citizens, and let your opinions be known that way. One interesting note on the council's sheet - they propose having regular annual or semi-annual meetings along the lines of last night's - I think this is a great idea. I came away from the meeting armed with more information, and that's always a good thing. Speaking for myself, the fire in my belly throughout this whole experience has been fuelled in large part by a lack of readily available and/or easily processed information on a lot of these issues. In such a vaccuum we're forced to default to speculation and assumptions, and we all know the little saying about assumptions. If nothing else, more face time with the members of council, outside the formal environment of chambers, could go a long way to bringing all parties closer together.
We're going to take a few days off from posting to reclaim some lost time, but please feel free in the interim to comment on anything you see here, or to email us your posts if you have them.
...more to come!
In the meantime please remember to fill out the questionnaires that were provided both by council and a group of concerned citizens, and let your opinions be known that way. One interesting note on the council's sheet - they propose having regular annual or semi-annual meetings along the lines of last night's - I think this is a great idea. I came away from the meeting armed with more information, and that's always a good thing. Speaking for myself, the fire in my belly throughout this whole experience has been fuelled in large part by a lack of readily available and/or easily processed information on a lot of these issues. In such a vaccuum we're forced to default to speculation and assumptions, and we all know the little saying about assumptions. If nothing else, more face time with the members of council, outside the formal environment of chambers, could go a long way to bringing all parties closer together.
We're going to take a few days off from posting to reclaim some lost time, but please feel free in the interim to comment on anything you see here, or to email us your posts if you have them.
...more to come!
posted by Anonymous |
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7 Comments:
I felt positive about the event as well. It was an opporunity for some two-way dialogue that seems to have been missing along the way. Obviously not all questions can be answered in one evening but if events like that start dicussions or even relationships they've been worthwhile.
With all the focus on the political end of Summerland with the OCP and open house I haven't been paying as much attention to all the many things that are great here. It was refreshing to step out of the open house at 9 and casually walk home without a second thought for my safety. It's worth the effort of figuring out how to preserve and encourage freedoms like that as much as possible even though other changes are happening. No, I don't know exactly how to do it...
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Tannis, at 9:28 p.m.
“Show and Tell” was interesting from both a personal point of view as well as from a group representation viewpoint. Our club has been having problems getting its lease renewed and we have had meetings with some of the Municipal staff now for over 2 years in an effort to resolve the problem. When we approached individual Councillors at the OCP meeting on the topic they unanimously admitted a complete lack of knowledge about the situation. Apparently staff was trying to solve the problem without informing Council about the situation. So now some combined action of Council and staff is going to happen—at least that is what we were told. So, by and large, we are happy about that. It goes to show that Council will listen if enough pressure is brought to bear. Staff was also a little bewildered as more than 60 club members approached them individually and in small groups to find out what was going on. By the time club executives arrived at 8 pm they had been well versed on our needs and surprised by the show of support we had.
The fact that they allowed (or were not prepared to stop) representatives from two organized groups handing out questionnaires was a pleasant surprise. Reps from “Concerned Summerland Citizens” were there as well as the Trout Creek group. I asked about contributing some money to the former group towards the ads they put in the two papers, but they said that had been taken care of. I have an idea who it was and certainly appreciate someone being out of pocket for something they believe in.
Our next task, I believe, is to get the town planners to lay out a sequence of development within the community. I believe, too, that it is important to get people on council who have the power to slow the growth of this community against the demands of developers and other entrepreneurs. For the life of me I can’t understand why anyone would move to Summerland and then push to have it become another “Penticton on the Lake”. People talk about wanting to make sure that we have enough enterprises here so that their kids can have jobs, and then make their life here. I have talked to enough young people to know that they want nothing more then to get out of this “boring” community once they finish high school. And for the majority who are not tied to their mother’s apron strings this is exactly what they do. And I don’t think people should be coming to Summerland hoping to find work here. You can do that perhaps in Kelowna or Vancouver or Fort St. John, but not here.
Sorry. Back on track. Maybe you should limit these entries to 500 words or less, Jeremy.
What I also learned, after having heard about it for a number of years, is the plan to develop the east side of Cartwright Mt. Apparently an earlier study has suggested that we could have enough units up there forsome 3000 (three thousand!) people. I can just see this now. It would probably look a lot like some of those eyesores that are showing up on the north bank of the Lower Fraser River. Unfortunately, this is right in my backyard. That one and the Rattlesnake Mt. development they are talking about would really surround a good chunk of agricultural land. Where is it all to end?
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Anonymous, at 11:57 p.m.
Frank, this is the most positive I've heard you about the council so far! You must have been impressed. Glad to hear that the yacht club issue may not be as bad as you suspected.
I thought it was an excellent event -- council and staff should be commended for their hard work on what must have been an exhausting evening for them. The information was good, the maps were helpful, and the people at the stations seemed genuinely willing to help people understand what they were seeing -- an open house that was really open. And it was excellent to see how many people came out.
In regards to your comments about securing employment for future generations, I noticed that Naramata is working on their OCP right now too. Interesting to note that they have absolutely zero interest in industrial development. Lots of residents there have kids too, but they don't seem to think that industry is going to be the answer to a happy future for their families.
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Jeremy, at 1:29 p.m.
I don't feel as positive about the event as previous commentators.
It was not Council's fault but when I was there (from 4:00 to 5:30) the large crowd overwhelmed the few staff members and Councillors so most folk could not find someone to answer their questions. I heard a lot of grumbling about this.
Also, It was disappointing to find the O.C.P. information tucked away in the furthest corner of the room, when this was what most people had come to look at.
The best aspect of the Open House was that so many people made the effort to become better informed and to let Council and Staff know how they felt about the O.C.P.
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tony cooke, at 2:45 p.m.
I didn't have such a positive impression about the Open House.
I was there from 4:00 to 5:30 when the crowd was particularly large. I heard a lot of grumbling because most folk couldn't find a staff member or Councillor to ask questions of.
I'm not blaming Council or staff, they were simply overwhelmed by the numbers.
It was a shame that the O.C.P. stuff was tucked into the furthermost corner of the room. This was what most people had comer to see. I don't understand why it was not front and centre.
The best part was that so many people came out to learn more and to make their opinions heard.
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tony cooke, at 3:02 p.m.
Re: Frank's earlier post. Frank, you refer previous and current plans for "3,000 people on the East side of Cartwright Mountain." Are you referring to what the OCP calls "North Prairie Valley - West?"
If so you have underestimated the document. It refers to 3,000 homes), not people. In other words, around 7,500 people.
Note that this figure does NOT include the 700 - 1,000 homes to be developed as part of the new golf course West of town.
Tony
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tony cooke, at 11:42 a.m.
The meeting seemed to be the product oof goode intentions. In all fairness I arrived at around 8:30 and the major players appeared pretty weary.
After a rather disturbing conversation with a council member, who insisted that I have faith in my leaders and not to worry about their managment of water, I spoke with a gentleman who worked very closely on the water managment for Summerland.
He strongly encouraged me to press for answers at every stage of this process. He stressed that it is one thing to ascertain the amount of water in the ground, it is another matter completely to judge how much can be extracted.
I left the meeting glad that I had come away with more information, but equally I was less than pleased over being made to feel that I was 11 years old.
myron
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Myron, at 12:01 a.m.
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