ALC to Release Land
Reliable sources say that the ALC has decided to approve Council's application for the removal of over 320 acres in North Prairie Valley (Area 11) from the Agricultural Land Reserve, despite all the solid arguments against this application. The fact that this land is earmarked for development in our Official Community Plan seems to have been the clincher. Apparently the ALC is waiting for a suitable time to release the news.
Even though the land will not be in the ALR, that does not mean it cannot be used for agriculture and agro-tourism and must be used for housing.
The big question now is whether the new Council elected on 19th November will deal solely with Summerland Hills and continue to exclude all other interested parties, or will it invite competitive bids for this land through an open tendering process?
Will the multi-faceted agricultural, winery, visitor centre and agro-tourism proposal for "Area 11" which is now before Council be given an opportunity to compete and bid for this land?
Will cost/benefit/risk analyses be done on the new proposal and on the Summerland Hills subdivision proposal (and any others yet to be received) for this parcel of land, to determine which is best for Summerland?
Even though the land will not be in the ALR, that does not mean it cannot be used for agriculture and agro-tourism and must be used for housing.
The big question now is whether the new Council elected on 19th November will deal solely with Summerland Hills and continue to exclude all other interested parties, or will it invite competitive bids for this land through an open tendering process?
Will the multi-faceted agricultural, winery, visitor centre and agro-tourism proposal for "Area 11" which is now before Council be given an opportunity to compete and bid for this land?
Will cost/benefit/risk analyses be done on the new proposal and on the Summerland Hills subdivision proposal (and any others yet to be received) for this parcel of land, to determine which is best for Summerland?
posted by tony cooke |
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1 Comments:
This makes you wonder whether council's lack of attention to the OCP in the past six-eight months was intentional. I think they knew that if Summerlanders got an OCP that made sense to them, that entire area would have been off limits to any kind of development. The current OCP is a joke -- it can be summarized in one simple statement -- "we'll keep expanding outwards into the hills as far as we want."
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Jeremy, at 4:31 p.m.
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