Town of Osoyoos council is no longer interested in supporting the idea of allowing a transient campground to be built near the canal bike pass near the Sonora Desert Centre.
Council had discussed on numerous occasions over the past several months the possibility of erecting a fence to block off a tract of land the provincial government had handed over to the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) and allowing transient workers who flock to the area to work on farms and orchards to use the facility.
However, when more thought was put into the idea and the costs involved were discussed by members of council Monday, the proposal was quickly shot down and no such campground will be opening in 2012 – and from the comments of councillors, it likely will never happen.
“This comes under the category of be careful what you wish for,” said Mayor Stu Wells, who said such a campground would be a recipe for problems for the town and its residents in relation to supplying potable water, forest fire and garbage concerns.
“There are a lot of issues there,” he said.
Mark Pendergraft, vice-chair of the RDOS board and regional representative for Osoyoos, said “time is of the essence” in relation to the campground as many transient workers from out-of-province start flocking to Osoyoos in late spring and early summer.
Wells said he’s thought a lot about this issue over the past few weeks and has come to the conclusion that allowing a large group of workers to gather in a campground approved by the town and council isn’t a good idea.
“I want it on the record, I’m not in favour of this camp and I don’t see any need for it,” he said.
Coun. C.J. Rhodes agreed.
“I’m in favour of abandoning this right now … I see this as a multi-layered problem,” he said. “I’m worried about having the wrong kind of people there.”
Farmers who hire workers from out-of-province should be providing shelter for their employees or these transient workers can pay to stay in licensed campgrounds with amenities provided, said Rhodes.
Issues like providing potable water, proper sanitation and washroom facilities and problems with potential fire hazards haven’t been sufficiently addressed for him to support the idea of allowing this campground, said Rhodes.
“At the end of the day, I have a great deal of trouble with this and I won’t be supporting it,” he said.
Last summer, hundreds of transient workers and people who come to Osoyoos to enjoy the magnificent weather ended up gathering at a makeshift campground near Strawberry Creek, said Wells.
When a lock was installed to cut off vehicular traffic to that area, many of the problems that were surfacing in terms to sanitation, pollution and overcrowding were quickly eliminated, he said.
The town has bylaws in place which don’t allow for people to use public property and enforcing these bylaws is the key to controlling the situation, said Wells.
Coun. Mike Plante agreed that farmers who hire these workers from out-of-province have a responsibility to provide adequate shelter to them.
“I think we have to put this back on the farmers a little bit,” he said. “We haven’t had farmers in here (council chambers) asking us to build these campgrounds.
“I’m against this idea.”
Coun. Michael Ryan said the idea of the campground “had noble intentions” and was discussed to help provide an affordable living space for transient workers who come here and don’t earn big wages. However, when you factor in issues like forest fires, sanitation and providing water, council should not be supporting it.
Other towns in the South Okanagan have hired French-speaking residents to help communicate with the huge influx of Quebecers who come to this area to work and play each summer and that’s worked out well and he would support that idea, said Wells.
“That may be a more effective use of our dollars,” he said.
Pendergraft agreed, saying a French-language co-ordinator was hired to communicate with workers in the Naramata area “and they had very good success and didn’t have the problems we’ve had here in a town.”
At the end of the debate, Wells said “I think council’s direction is pretty clear on this issue” and they unanimously agreed this campsite concept was a bad idea and it won’t be discussed any further for 2012.
Council is expected to discuss the idea of hiring a French-language liaison to work with transient workers who come to Osoyoos from Quebec at its next meeting in two weeks.