Rezoning Meeting in Faulder
A notice has been sent to all Faulder and Meadow Valley residents regarding a meeting to be held at Camp Boyle on March 16. It concerns a rezoning application and the plan for a residential development between Faulder and Summerland.
I am posting this entry as this meeting may be of interest to people living outside the Faulder/ Meadow Valley area.
The notice reads exactly as follows:
ATTENTION
ALL FAULDER AND MEADOW VALLEY RESIDENCE
The Gibbs family invites you to attend an information meeting about the Gibbs family plans for a residential development on our 120 acre estate in Faulder.
We wish to inform our community of our plans for our rezoning application and eventual residential subdivision.
[Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen ariel photograph of area in question]
Meeting is on Wednesday March 16, 2005 at Camp Boyle.
Meeting starts at 7:00 pm.
Everyone is invited.
I am posting this entry as this meeting may be of interest to people living outside the Faulder/ Meadow Valley area.
The notice reads exactly as follows:
ATTENTION
ALL FAULDER AND MEADOW VALLEY RESIDENCE
The Gibbs family invites you to attend an information meeting about the Gibbs family plans for a residential development on our 120 acre estate in Faulder.
We wish to inform our community of our plans for our rezoning application and eventual residential subdivision.
[Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen ariel photograph of area in question]
Meeting is on Wednesday March 16, 2005 at Camp Boyle.
Meeting starts at 7:00 pm.
Everyone is invited.
posted by Myron |
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5 Comments:
Thanks for posting this, Myron. I've heard about a couple of new developments in the works for Faulder and Meadow Valley, potentially adding up to hundreds of new residents out there.
It's interesting to me because if the regional district is going to allow more aggressive development there, it will affect Summerland's infrastructure (roads, traffic, mostly) and water supply.
It's also worth thinking about in terms of Summerland's OCP -- if Summerland limits growth "too much", will it encourage the growth of a long residential corridor outside its boundaries? Will the new golf course be an anchor for a larger and rapidly growing rural community?
By
Jeremy, at 8:04 a.m.
About 30 people including a member from the Regional District and a few “outsiders” including myself attended the Faulder meeting. The impression I got was that the majority of those attending were not in favour of the planned subdivision being proposed by the Gibbs family. The subdivision would only form a portion of the Gibbs’ property. The presenter suggested that about 75 to 100 lots of regular city-lots to about 1acre in size with the usual cul de sacs would form the subdivision. They were presenting their proposal to the Faulder residents to get feedback as well as show everyone what they envisioned for the community. From the aerial photo shown it appeared that the Gibbs had used the 120-acre block to extract sand and gravel for their commercial operation. It appeared that a number of old growth trees had been removed during the process as well as others possibly for a logging operation. The property partly borders Trout Creek and is located south of the roads intersecting the route to Princeton to the west and Meadow Valley to the north.
The big question was the water source for such a development. They propose to drill a major well into an aquifer below the property. Faulder residents have a community well as well as individual wells on private properties. According to the presenter, Robyn Gibbs, a study by the Golder group showed that there was more than adequate water to supply everyone. A number of people questioned this availability. One person had brought in a display of newspaper clippings dating back to the 1980’s at which time Faulder had undergone a severe shortage of water and had even been forced to haul in supplies.
Without going into too much detail it appears that the developers are going to have to jump through a considerable number of hoops before they are given the green light. More water studies will have to be done. The Highways Department will also have a significant influence. Their power is such that even if the Regional District OK’s the project it could be rejected by them and that would be the end of it. The Regional District said that they would appreciate input from residents as this would also influence their decision. The RDOS rep also mentioned that the developers that were planning the golf course/resort had never at any time approached them. This was interesting aside.
A number of people also were concerned about the “slippery slope” of this development getting the go ahead. Would it open up the door for more people with large size properties in doing the same thing? It looks like a lot of people in Faulder are not looking forward to that happening.
March 16th
Frank Martens
By
Anonymous, at 10:12 p.m.
Frank, it's great that you went to the meeting to get the scoop. Thanks for writing it up as well.
I wonder whether opponents to the development (and golf course, which should be more of a concern for the same reasons) will be organized enough to make a difference? I was fascinated by Myron's original Faulder post, showing that people can be quite motivated when there's a very direct threat...but that motivation tends to dissipate.
What astounds me most about this plan is how profoundly uncreative it is. How could any reflective person look at 120 acres of valley land along beautiful Trout Creek and think, "suburban subdivision"?
So they want to knock down most of the trees and put in 100 flimsy, ugly monster homes with manicured lawns, which would be the best way to consume the most possible energy and water per acre and add hundreds of cars per day to a road in serious need of an upgrade already. This is the best land use we can envision? It's no wonder the world is so messed up.
If they're determined to give themselves a pile of neighbours, how about an ecovillage approach instead? Maybe leave the trees standing and put in half as many homes on a third as much land, using a quarter of the water (and recycling all of it), producing a quarter of the waste, and building homes that use half as much energy to run.
By
Jeremy, at 8:40 a.m.
Jeremy, your suggestions will not even register on the radar of developers - particularly in the conservative Okanagan. That said, Faulder might just be the place to consider some of these ideas. Perhaps a meeting with the Gibbs family to consider options is a point worth considering. Perhaps a utopian idea, but it might be worth a try. On second thought a letter to the family might be a goood first approach.
Perhaps this couild eventually be a point upon which everyone, or nearly everyone could be appeased.
Okay I will get off my dream cloud now...
By
Myron, at 10:32 p.m.
Hi Robin. I really appreciate you participating in this discussion, especially in offering your contact information. It seems like in general, developers often hide away and make decisions behind closed doors as if that will save them the hassle of dealing with people.
I'm glad you're interested in the ecovillage concept -- I wonder if your project would be easier to sell to the community if that was part of the plan you were pitching? You've gotta think that people are more likely to support a development that uses half as much water as the equivalent standard subdivision with lawns.
By
Jeremy, at 10:43 a.m.
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