-Supporters cite sewage benefits, opponents express environmental concerns-
OSOYOOS TIMES-July 16, 2008-
By Chad IngramrnOsoyoos Times
More than 250 people packed into the Sonora Centre in Osoyoos on July 9 for a public hearing on the proposed Willow Beach Resort, bringing with them a variety of opinions on the 1,088-unit housing project which would be built on Osoyoos Lake's north shore.
Following presentations by Terry Underwood, the Town of Osoyoos's consulting engineer, and Tim Ankenman, the development's chief architect, nearly 50 people spoke, with 27 expressing favour for the project and 21 speaking against or raising concerns about the development or the application process.
In his turn at the microphone, Osoyoos councillor Stu Wells blasted the Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS), drawing attention to what he called a flawed governmental process.
Wells pointed out that of the eight rural RDOS directors who will make the deciding vote on the development application, only three “ Area A Director Mark Pendergraft, Area B Director George Hanson and Area C Director Allan Patton “ were present at the hearing.
We don't have the people that are going to make the vote on the proposal here, Wells said.
In a July 11 interview, Pendergraft said he wasn't sure where the other directors were, but noted it is not common practice for rural directors to attend public hearings in each other's districts.
Pendergraft said he understood why some people would find this disconcerting, but added that all rural directors will receive minutes of the public hearing to review before making their decision.
They'll have a sense of what went down, he said.
Many people who spoke in favour of the project praised the development company for its commitment to complete the planned Northwest Sewer Project.
In May, Robert Wilson, president of Georgia Laine Developments, the company behind the resort concept, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Town of Osoyoos, pledging that, if the resort is approved by the Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS), the developer would provide the $2-million funding shortfall necessary to complete the sewage project.
The project would connect more than 120 homes along the lake's northwest shore currently using septic tanks to the Town's sewage system.
In return, the Town would provide water and sewage services to the resort.
Longtime Osoyoos-area resident Carley Lahaise said for decades one of the biggest concerns for local people has been the poor water quality of Osoyoos Lake.
This (development) project will do more to correct that problem than anything that has been done so far, Lahaise said. I'm all for this project as it stands.
Denis Bisonnette, who lives on 81st Street along the lake's northwest shore, also spoke in favour of the development, saying he welcomed the infrastructural improvements that would come along with its construction.
This project will bring to me some healthy water to drink, Bisonnette said. That's what I like.
However, others made it clear they do not like the way the resort plan has become linked to the completion of the sewage project.
I don't like being asked to take a bribe, said Osoyoosite Peter Gajda, adding that while the sewage line needs to be put in, there should be another way of making it happen.
How many supporters would there be if the developers weren't offering the bribe?rnRural Osoyoos resident Harold King also said he felt area residents are being bribed by the developer through the promised completion of the sewage project.
I used to think holding a carrot on a stick was only to train donkeys, King said, adding that he thought the idea that the lake would be saved with the completion of the sewage project while a potentially large new community is established on an ecologically sensitive area doesn't make sense.
If you think putting 3,000 people on a wetland only two or three feet above the water table is going to help the lake, I've got news for you, he said.
Other speakers registered environmental concerns as well.
Oliver resident Paula Rodriguez said that while the green building principles and conservation efforts included in the resort plans are commendable, she is concerned that the development is being proposed for a wetland which shouldn't be developed in such a fashion as it houses a number of plant and animal species that are at risk.
While Rodriguez acknowledged the potential environmental benefits that would come from the completion of the sewage project, she said, It saddens me that it's coming from a developer that is destroying a habitat in the process.
Osoyoos resident and South Okanagan Chamber of Commerce director Chris Scheuren countered this argument by saying that whatever is built at Willow Beach will sit on land already subjected to human contamination from the former campground at the site.
Twenty-six per cent of the Willow Beach site is recognized as ecologically sensitive by the province, with the oxbows at the property's northeast end comprising much of these riparian areas.
The developer's proposal includes a fence designed to keep residents out of these riparian areas, as well as interpretive signs and an interpretive centre to educate residents and guests on the importance of respecting the area's wetland.
According to the proposal, 60 per cent of the overall property would be put aside as possible parks and conservation areas.
Osoyoos realtor Virginia Cook and Michael Ryan, president of the residents' group Osoyoos Now, also separately acknowledged the environmentally conscious steps made by the developer.
But both voiced opposition to the proposed project's location.
It's a good development in the wrong place, Ryan said.
Nichole Rae of Ducks Unlimited, which purchased 64 hectares of wetland north of Willow Beach from the Quintal family last year, said she thought placing the development on a floodplain adjacent to a riparian area was a poor choice.
The Willow Beach site is a floodplain, although it has not flooded since the 1950s.
The president of the Osoyoos Oxbows Restoration Society, however, said the developer would actually be helping to protect the riparian areas at Willow Beach, something he said the oxbows organization has been trying to convince the provincial government to do for many years.
The government hasn't helped us before, said Eike Scheffler. The alternative was to find the best developer in the country. The setbacks are there to protect the oxbows.
Others said they felt the housing development would bring economic benefits, including jobs for young people, to the area while taking development pressure off surrounding lands.
The Town of Osoyoos has very limited growth options right now, said former Osoyoos town planner and current notary public Brad Elenko.
Elenko said that land in Osoyoos is rapidly being bought up and that the town is surrounded by water, the Nk'Mip reservation and the AgriculturalrnLand Reserve.
He added that the proposed Willow Beach development represents good and responsible planning that will also see the number of amenities, goods and services in the area increase.
A number of other developers working in the area, including representatives from the Watermark Beach Resort, Indigo and Reflection Point, spoke of the proposed resort as a model for sustainable design.
One man said he was happy the developers were going to allow the public to use waterfront areas within the development as public beach space around the lake is disappearing.
You're giving us back that public beach and that's wonderful, said David Evans of Oliver.
A number of people raised concerns, however, about the sheer size of the development.
Peter Beckett, a member of the RDOS Area A Advisory Planning Committee, which makes recommendations on development proposals before they advance to the RDOS board of directors, said that when the committee reviewed the developer's proposal last fall, the group had given the project its blessing on the condition that the proposed number of units “ 1,244 at that time “ be significantly decreased.
Beckett said that the current proposal of 1,088 units is not a significant reduction in the eyes of the APC.
He added that a recent vote by the committee had confirmed this sentiment.
Some former residents of the Willow Beach RV Park also spoke at the hearing.
Many of the park's former residents have been relocated by the developer to a mobile home park in Midway, 60 kilometres east of Osoyoos.
I'm the happiest person living there now, said Helen Warrington, whose mobile home was recently moved to the Midway park. They fixed up my trailer. I can't say a bad thing about (Georgia Laine).
However, Jennifer Macfadden of Oliver, who said she was speaking on behalf of some of the former residents of the Willow Beach RV Park, told the hearing that the developer was putting residents between a rock and a hard place and that the more affordable homes in the new development should be offered to them first.
Macfadden also said she doubted young people and families would be able to afford homes at the proposed Willow Beach Resort, despite the developer's claim that it will cater to many socio-economic demographics.
Cheryl Smith, another Willow Beach RV Park resident, had a number of concerns about essential services such as fire protection and policing for thousands of new people in the area.
What about police? she asked. Who's going to pay for that?rnSmith said she was also concerned that lower income earners “ such as people who would be working at the resort's coffees shops “ wouldn't be able to afford to live onsite.
Where are these people going to live? she said. I can't afford your units.
Other concerns included boat traffic and what would happen if the development went belly-up financially before being completed.
I've taken your concerns to heart, Ankenman said at the end of the hearing, adding he would be incorporating concerns and suggestions brought up during the evening into the proposal.
Ankenman acknowledged that the prospect of increased boat traffic on Osoyoos Lake is an issue and said his plan would be to have common boats for Willow Beach residents to use, in order to decrease overall boat traffic on the lake.
He also noted that the Rural Osoyoos Fire District has been approached about servicing the development, should it pass, and the development proposal includes a site for a potential fire hall as a contingency plan.
Ankenman said that even in the scenario that the development was approved but could not be completed, the dedication of park lands on the site would be the first phase to be carried out.
He said area residents would be left with improved lands even if we don't build a stick of wood on this site.rnThe developer purchased the 28-hectare Willow Beach RV Park and Campground in June of 2007 for $23 million from the Quintal family, who had operated the facility since the 1970s.
The proposed development, which would place condominiums, townhouses, single-family homes, a bed-and-breakfast and a commercial village on the property, passed first reading with the RDOS board of directors in January and second reading in April.
Pendergraft said he wasn't sure when the proposal would go before the RDOS board for third reading, but said it likely wouldn't happen until at least August.
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