I'm Incensed!!!!

As you probably know by now, on June 13th Council voted UNANIMOUSLY to forward the ALR exclusion application of the West Prairie Valley parcels to the ALC with their SUPPORT. This, despite the Agricultural Advisory Committe (of council's own creation) recommending to defer this decision for 60 days. I guess I was naive, but this decision shocked me. I think this decision should send a clear picture that this Council has an agenda, to lay the ground work for the Golf Course and Residential Metropolis, before the Novemeber elections. Here is a brief overview of some of what the Association did leading up to this Council meeting:

Tony Cooke acting as spokesman for our Association, addressed Council at the meeting this morning (13th June). His presentation lasted about 15 min, and was passionate, clear, and concise.
Tony posed the question to Council “why do you think the Association is growing so fast?” His answer “because many citizens are angry about the OCP and its implications for rapid growth and the loss of agricultural land.
He said that Summerlanders chose to live in a small town, and want to preserve that special small town feeling. Concerns addressed included the strong influence of the chamber of commerce, water issues, and pressure for rapid growth.
Tony made three requests of Council:
1. Do not apply for removal from the ALR of 382 acres of land in NW Prairie Valley

2. Scale back the amount of development in the OCP to the same amount as in the past 20 years – 1500 additional homes. This should be the upper limit.

3. Instruct staff to study communities throughout the world that have successfully limited growth, and apply those success stories to our OCP.

I wrote a letter to council outlining the public input they have received so far, much of it commissioned by themselves, and imploring them to LISTEN to that input:

Mr. Mayor and Council,

I am asking you to defer your decision on the 154-acre ALR exclusion application for 60 days, to await the recommendation of the AAC and gather more community input. If you vote today to forward this application with support, you will be disregarding the vast amount of public input already submitted.

1. Your first OCP questionnaire showed 62% of respondents felt "preserving existing agricultural lands" was either very important or important. Also 72% of respondents felt "preserving the rural flavour of Summerland” was either very important or important.

2. The OCP Stakeholder Group, a broad cross section of the community, unanimously carried the statement that “preserving the agricultural and rural flavour of Summerland is important".
3. The February 2005 Open House Survey saw comments written by 174 attendees. Of those:
64 residents had water concerns
51 people advised they want slow growth.
29 were opposed or concerned about the Golf Course.
28 people want land left alone in the ALR
18 would like to see a focus on infill
18 people stated they want Council to listen to the people who elected them and not the developers
4. Our concerned citizen group commissioned it's own survey, finding 44% of respondents want our OCP to continue to protect all ALR land.
5. Council has received over 40 individual letters of opposition to the exclusion of this 154-acre parcel from the ALR.

6. The AAC has voted to defer this decision for 60 days to seek more detailed information regarding the agricultural viability of this parcel and gather further community input.

There is a ground swell of opposition to ALR exclusions in Summerland and to the underlying issue of rapid growth. Opposition is mounting against the sprawling destination golf course and residential development planned for West Prairie Valley.

If you, Mr. Mayor, and Council vote to forward this application with support today, it will be clear that you wish to avoid growing community involvement in this process. Do not ignore the input already gathered. Listen to the residents of Summerland.

Apparently none of this matters to current Council. We now need to focus on the ALC.