OSOYOOS TIMES-September 16, 2009

By Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times

The owner of an 8.8-hectare piece of land on Main Street known as the Wish property intends to apply to the Agricultural Land Commission to have the site removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR).
The land, located at 4927 Main St. is owned by Kevin Demers of Holiday Trails RV Resorts, a company that owns RV resorts in B.C., Washington state and Alberta.
The future of the property is partially linked to an agreement between the Town of Osoyoos and the Osoyoos Indian Band that, when finalized, will transfer roughly 16 hectares of land near 45th Street into the reserve.
Part of the agreement includes several road alignment projects, including the creation of a new intersection on Hwy. 3 west of 45th Street.
A new road would be created that would bisect the property in question, in turn creating four parcels.
Brad Elenko of Urban Connections, who is serving as Demers’ agent, said if the exclusion application is approved, an RV resort would be established on a 3.8-hectare parcel in the middle of the property.
The other parcels would be used for highway-commercial purposes, multi-family housing and affordable housing, he added.
Elenko said the application would be formally submitted this week.
In May, Elenko had written to the Town on Demers’ behalf, asking for the Town to relax the information requirements demanded by the Town in order for them to support an exclusion application to the commission.
He said the only thing Osoyoos town council needs to focus on is whether or not a property should remain in the ALR.
Council, however, disagreed and, in July, approved an updating of the Town’s ALR Applications policy to include a requirement that applications contain some kind of framework for what will be done with a property if an exclusion request is successful.
Anyone who wants to express an interest in the application can forward comments in writing to the Town of Osoyoos at Box 3010, 8707 Main St., Osoyoos, B.C., V0H 1V0 until Sept. 18.
As for the Town’s agreement with the band on the boundary adjustment, Jim Zakall, the Town’s chief financial officer, said the band’s council will be looking at the agreement this week.
[email protected]