City challenged over opposition to review

By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star - April 11, 2008

Theories are arising over Vernon’s opposition to a governance review at Silver Star. The North Okanagan Regional District board voted Wednesday to support the Silver Star community’s plans for a governance review, including possibility forming a municipality. Opposition came from Vernon’s three representatives as well as the director from Coldstream. “The reason the city is not supporting the request is because it believes Areas B and C will be annexed into the city,” said Stan Field, director for BX-Silver Star. That is also the view of Ted Pleavin, president of the Silver Star Property Owners Association, which has applied to the provincial government for a governance review. “The city believes that if we wait long enough, we will be amalgamated into the city,” he said. Pleavin added that the association recently held a meeting with city council to discuss the matter and only the mayor showed up.

“All of these people voting against these things weren’t there to hear from us.” Buffy Baumbrough, a NORD director and Vernon councillor, denies the city’s opposition is linked to wanting to amalgamate the two electoral areas. “We just feel it’s premature to support a governance review given everything else going on,” she said of the current valley-wide governance process currently underway. Coun. Pat Cochrane, who also sits on NORD, also stands by that position. “There’s a lot of other things happening in the valley that should work their way through the system,” he said. But the city’s representatives found themselves under attack from the rest of the board. “When you get a request from people for a review, we shouldn’t stand in the way of it. They have the right to ask the (governance) question,” said Lorna Bissell, Spallumcheen director. Eric Foster, Lumby director, believes the valley-wide process is irrelevant to the wishes of Silver Star residents. “We can’t hold everything up because of other things going on,” he said. Some of the strongest words came from Bob Cowan, rural Enderby’s alternate director. “This is basic democracy. If they want to explore different options for governance, let them,” he said. Glen Taylor, Coldstream’s alternate director, voted against supporting a review based on his council’s stand. “Development on Silver Star is affecting all of our watersheds and we need more information,” he said.