Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Mayor wants to extend city’s reach


Penticton Mayor Jake Kimberley wants the city to have a greater say about development just outside the city limits. He focused particularly on the power of regional district directors who represent rural regions. While rural directors representing the Princeton area can vote on issues concerning residents living in other rural areas, the city is not allowed to vote on development issues that may impact rural areas just outside its limits such as West Bench. That legislation needs to be amended,” he said. If the regional district were to approve new residential units in Naramata, it would directly impact the city, said Kimberley. “That (additional) traffic will come into the city and cause additional costs,” he said. Penticton recently tried but failed to get a vote on the regional district board dealing with development issues in areas outside municipal boundaries but within the jurisdiction of the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen.

This issue — a long-standing source of tensions — has come to the forefront once again over development proposals in rural areas identified as secondary growth areas, such as the region near the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory. Uncontrolled development in rural areas is not only expensive in terms of infrastructure needs and environmental impacts, but also threatens key economic drivers, said Coun. Randy Manuel. “This has to stop, especially (around DRAO),” said Manuel, who found agreement from several councillors. “I cannot support urban sprawl and residential (developments) built in outlying areas,” said Coun. Garry Litke. Coun. Joanne Grimaldi — a longtime critic of the regional district, who happens to live in a rural area administered by the RDOS — said citizens living inside city limits end up subsidizing citizens living outside the limits, yet are without a voice. “There does not seem to be consideration of the municipal concerns,” she said, stressing that circumstances forced her to reside outside city limits. The city, she said, needs to start drawing a line when it comes to supporting areas outside the city limits without getting something in return.

As if to prove to point, Grimaldi voted against a grant application for funding towards the West Bench water system said to be in need of significant upgrades. If the grant application is successful, the city could assume control of the West Bench irrigation district, said to be half a century old — a deal that irks Grimaldi to no end. “This adds insult to injury,” she said, as she renewed demands for West Bench to join the city outright, a move so far rejected by West Bench residents. Supporters of the grant application note though that the city can still back out of the arrangement, pending a due diligence report. Coun. Dan Ashton, who chairs the regional district board, urged his colleague to consider the question of future regional growth in perspective.Not everybody wants to live in an urban area, said Ashton. “People have a right to make choices,” he said.

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EDITORIAL Advantages extend beyond boundaries Penticton Western

Interference — whether it be of the electro-magnetic or political kind — has become a fashionable topic in recent days around the roundtable of regional district directors. Directors representing urban Penticton want to protect the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory from the research-killing effects of electromagnetic interference by limiting urban development in and around the White Lake area through the erection of a legislative moat around the facility. But the regional director representing the area resents this political interference. “It’s a slippery slope,” said Bill Schwarz recently. “Once we go down that slope then the city or the town will be able to dictate to the rest of the (rural directors).” Does he have a point? Ahem, no. Rural directors who are supposedly chaffing under the meddling tyranny of Penticton should remind themselves of who pays the piper. About 40 per cent of the regional district budget comes from citizens residing within the city limits of Penticton, which also happens to provide a host of services unavailable in the surrounding rural regions. When residents of Keremeos, Okanagan Falls or West Bench want to go swimming, they come to Penticton. If they want to enjoy a theatre production or follow a hockey game at the soon-to-be-opened South Okanagan Events Centre, they will be doing so in facilities paid for and subsidized by Penticton citizens. And if DRAO develops a new, profitable technology or makes a scientific discovery that broadens our collective knowledge, rural residents and their representatives benefit too.

Yes, regional relationships cut the other way too, a point sometimes ignored by detractors of the regional district. But rural directors who may be tempted to view their territories as absolutist fiefdoms where their word is some form of divine law better re-align their attitudes towards existing realities. Rural directors would do well to come to the realization that their constituents enjoy many of the same opportunities as their city counterparts. And the protection of local institutions like DRAO is a matter of importance that stretches beyond political boundaries.

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