Many of the participants of a day-long workshop held to “reignite” the direction of economic development in Osoyoos came away feeling optimistic.
Roughly 30 people, including members of town council, business owners, real estate agents, community volunteers and representatives of the South Okanagan Chamber of Commerce and Destination Osoyoos, took part in the workshop at the Osoyoos Golf and Country Club on April 24.
Under the direction of workshop facilitator Gordon McIntosh, the participants broke into groups and brainstormed a number of success indicators for economic development in Osoyoos while looking at focus areas including tourism, manufacturing, transportation, agriculture and market access.
Mayor Stu Wells said one of the aims of the workshop was to determine what economic development means to the community and find ways to meet those expectations.
“Economic development means 50 different things to 50 different people,” he said.
For the first part of the day, participants shared ideas on what successful economic development in Osoyoos would look like and McIntosh, who is president of the Victoria-based Local Government Leadership Institute, said the Town could use these ideas to make a “report card” for the future.
In the second round of brainstorming, participants looked at what is working well in the community and what areas need attention.
For example, in the area of market access, it was agreed that the Town’s recent branding under the Canada’s Warmest Welcome slogan and logo is effective.
In the same area, however, it was thought that more attention could be given to better promoting the community through the Internet and streamlining the Town’s web services.
Participants were then asked to narrow down the economic development issues in the community to several areas that need focus.
These included downtown revitalization, public transit, the border, water quality, medical services and affordable housing.
McIntosh had the entire group work out what possibilities for development exist in each of the six areas and figure out where the “gaps” might be in making those possibilities a reality.
He also asked the participants “who would take the lead?” in each area.
For downtown revitalization, participants suggested bringing more events to Osoyoos’s downtown area, expanding Market on Main, beautifying the downtown core and establishing a business improvement association.
The Osoyoos Festival Society, the chamber and local businesses were named as possible candidates to take the lead in bringing events to the downtown core while the Town and businesses could take the lead in beautification efforts.
As for public transit, ideas about a water taxi that could connect resorts around Osoyoos Lake to the rest of town and an improved bus system were explored with the Town, local resorts and regional transit organizations named as the best candidates to helm such possibilities.
To capitalize more on Osoyoos’s location near the U.S. border, it was suggested that a “free trade zone” be considered and the chamber and Destination Osoyoos were named as organizations that could take the lead on developing that idea.
When looking at water quality, some participants said reactivating the oxbows north of Osoyoos Lake was a priority, something that is being spearheaded by the Osoyoos Oxbows Restoration Society, and the milfoil in the lake could be harvested for fertilizer under the direction of agriculturalists, businesses and the Okanagan Basin Water Board.
For medical services, doctor recruitment and retention were discussed and Destination Osoyoos and Interior Health were named as organizations that could take the lead in that area.
It was also suggested that a local medical clinic be considered for the area.
Finally, on the topic of affordable housing, Town planning and development services director Alain Cunningham told the gathering that the Agricultural Land Commission is prepared to consider allowing land in the South Meadowlark area west of Hwy. 97 for affordable housing.
He also said the Town has selected a consultant to help create an affordable housing strategy.
McIntosh wrapped up the workshop by saying that the participants had taken part in a “vision check-up” for Osoyoos’s economic development aims.
“If we don’t know what we’re expecting, we may expect the wrong things,” he said.
Reports on the workshop will be prepared and distributed to the Town, Destination Osoyoos and the chamber and participants agreed that the next step would be to use the information discussed at the gathering to create an economic development action plan.
Similar meetings in the future and regular updates on progress were also suggested as suitable follow-up activities.
Buffy MacIntosh, a co-owner of Propeller Clothing on Main Street, said she was “pleasantly surprised” by what was discussed at the meeting.
She said she expected the workshop to be “money-oriented” and focused on “big business” but found the amount of attention given to environmental issues and ideas surrounding downtown revitalization refreshing.
At the same time, MacIntosh said she would have liked to see more representatives of Osoyoos’s agriculture and retail industries present at the workshop.
“I was a little disappointed there weren’t more of the business owners.”
Coun. Margaret Chadsey told the gathering many business owners in the area wanted to attend the workshop but could not get away from work.
After the workshop ended, Chadsey said she was optimistic that the ideas discussed at the meeting wouldn’t just be forgotten.
“If we stick to our game plan… then I see the next step as identifying priorities, bringing the players together, determining our resources and developing an action plan,” she said. “I think some things are beyond our control in the long term, but a lot of what came out of today is doable.”
Pastor Phil Johnson, who is a board member for the South Okanagan Transit Society, said he was surprised to hear so much unanimous support for improved public transportation options in the area.
He added, however, that the workshop could have focused more on some social issues the town is facing.
“Apart from the affordable housing issue, I don’t think it really addressed the issue of homelessness or the working poor,” he said.

By Paul Everest
Osoyoos Times