Kudos to Vernon city council for finally getting it right. In a 4-2 vote on Monday (not 3-2 as was reported yesterday) city councillors decided to delay a decision on the Whitepoint resort project until after the Official Community Plan was complete. Local politicians finally stood by their new policy to defer all projects that propose a major departure from the OCP to be put off until after the plan is done. At previous meetings, they had puzzled the developers and the public by seemingly allowing some developments. It’s still puzzling that the vote was as close as it was given that the new policy received the near unanimous endorsment of council. With the looming project delayed, the city can continue with developing a longer term plan to determine exactly what they would like to see happen with that neighbourhood. The city has so far gone to great lengths to solicit public input for the plan. Eastside residents need to fully participate if their vision for the future of the neighbourhood is to be realized.
A resort/residential project may be the best use of the land and may be what area residents want, but the community plan should reflect that vision. Now that the precedent has been set council needs to stick to the policy. Completion of the OCP is still several months away and there will likely be more contentious developments on the way. City councillors should remember why it was they approved the policy in the first place before they vote on future projects.
The Vernon RCMP appear to be entering shaky legal ground with their latest idea to choke out the city’s drug trade. Insp. Steve McVarnock suggested on Monday he would like to see a database of people involved with drug houses made available to property owners. There’s something unjust and possibly unconstitutional about essentially giving landlords access to someone’s criminal record. Having a criminal past should not be a characteristic on which someone can be refused shelter, otherwise no reformed criminals could ever be re-integrated into society. That being said, landlords and property owners should be held more accountable for ensuring drug activity isn’t taking place on their properties. The drug house remediation bylaw seems to be a good first step, however, some buyers are complaining that the houses aren’t being properly rehabilitated. This process needs to be cleaned up so that future homebuyers aren’t stuck with substandard housing. If the bylaw is fully enforced, it should be adequate to keep the rise of drug houses in the city under control.
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