Silver Star makes pitch for municipal status

By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star - January 27, 2008

There are demands for Silver Star to be governed differently and that could include forming a municipality. The Silver Star Property Owners Association executive met Tuesday and it has decided to ask the provincial government to investigate municipal status for the community. “There’s been a frustration over water issues and how the North Okanagan Regional District has handled things,” said Ted Pleavin, association president. “People here want a closer watch over things. People in Enderby and Lumby are making decisions over Silver Star.” Currently, Silver Star is part of Area C, which has one elected representative at the NORD table, along with politicians from throughout the North Okanagan. Pleavin says NORD is not always able to keep up with the pace of development in the community, especially when it comes to Silver Star Mountain Resort. Governance was investigated a few years ago and, at the time, it was determined that Silver Star was too small to incorporate. But Pleavin says there’s been a lot of growth since then, and there are about 200 permanent residents.

“If you look at the tax base, there is $329 million of assessed value in residential land,” he said. Previously, it’s been suggested Silver Star join the City of Vernon but Pleavin doesn’t see that as an option. “Looking at Vernon and the problems it has, we need to go a different way,” he said. Recently, NORD downgraded Silver Star’s governance committee to an advisory role. It has had delegated authority on some matters removed.“We are aware of discontent in the village over changes to the governance committee,” said Ian Grant, with Silver Star Mountain Resort. “The feeling on the mountain is that some members of NORD are not supportive of development on the mountain.” Pleavin is upset with the changes to the governance committee, which he chaired.“We’ve been relegated to garbage and street lights. The people of Silver Star have little voice at NORD,” he said.

Stan Field, Area C director, defends the changes to the Silver Star committee, saying that a similar process has occurred with other NORD functions. “Everything went before the regional board any way,” he said. Jerry Oglow, NORD chairman, cautions that issues over water access have been held up because the provincial government hasn’t approved a new reservoir yet, “A lot of people point a finger at NORD but we’re not the approving agency for structures like this,” he said.But Oglow believes a review of governance is positive.“I think it’s timely that they are making a request of the minister,” he said.