Committee meetings are, as a general rule, not riveting but you learn stuff. Strange stuff.
Like, what’s going on with the Official Community Plan?
The city takes all the information gathered at all the events, interprets it and forms a draft. Do OCP committee members help pick which comments will drive which changes? From what I heard at the Jan. 14 meeting, they do not nor have they, after a four-month hiatus, been given a copy of the draft. Certain committee members will now be given certain areas to delve into more closely.
Lynn Kelsey voiced concern regarding two weeks to review hundreds of unfamiliar pages of such an important document. Why the very tight timeline?
This committee has worked in good faith and should be commended. They should also be shown the respect they deserve by giving them the time they need to look at all the questions and solutions.
A committee member asked, again, if the growth graphs actually subtracted the number of units being or already built very recently. Answer: didn’t know.
Amortized over a 10 to 15-year cycle, do we need so many units? All things considered, how accurate are those numbers?
Ben Johnson was asked what the height restrictions were and he thought maybe 10 stories.
Have zones and the OCP stopped any or all residential neighbourhoods from overdevelopment? They have not in the past and this is not likely to in the future.
Did you know that most of the trailer parks in Penticton have been designated for high density? How does that protect those affordable housing areas? Won’t developers love that prime real estate for towers?
Attention is being given to the SOEC and surrounding area. If the new ice sheets are built, there is likely not a person who owns a pair of skates, that does not belong to the hockey school, that will be able to afford or find ice time because they will decommission McLaren Arena. How is that working for the general public?
While we all know lifestyles have changed, the practical aspects of living have not.
Driverless cars still use the roads and need to park. A thousand more cars need wider roads or we have traffic gridlock. What is the cost to expropriate land for roads? What about air quality?
A thousand more people all need doctors, dentists, police, is there any thought to providing doctors? Sewer pipes and plants do not magically mend and expand to accommodate volume nor do water plants or schools.
Where is the proof that development makes more money than it costs to service that growth?
Where is the innovation and concern for climate change?
Where is the priority for protecting this unique ecological area, for conservation and food sustainability? Do you see any areas within the city limits set aside for new parkland or bike lanes?
I don’t.
The previous council’s tentacles have far-reaching influence on this process. It is the same old, same old ideology and use of myths as facts that need to be questioned.
Lynn Crassweller
Penticton