Will farms trump a recreation complex in Glenmore?

Ron Seymour  The Daily Courier   2011-07-28
A major recreation complex planned for Glenmore would result in the loss of productive farmland, members of a city committee say.  The Agricultural Advisory Committee is opposed to the city‘s plan to buy five properties totalling 26 acres at the southeast corner of Valley and Longhill Roads.  "We voted against this plan because there‘s no benefit in it for agriculture," committee chairman Leo Gebert said Wednesday. "Our mandate is to preserve agricultural lands."  The city hopes to win permission from the Agricultural Land Commission to exclude the properties from the Agricultural Land Reserve. The site would then be used to develop amenities such as soccer pitches, ball diamonds, a playground and a major recreation building.  "I know we all want to have parks and green space for our kids, but once the site is taken out of agricultural use, it‘s gone forever," Gebert said.  "You pave it over with parking lots and put up buildings and sports fields, there won‘t be any crops grown on it ever again."
City staff say it has always been the intention to develop a major recreation complex for Glenmore, which has a population of 23,000. The area is said to be under-served in recreational amenities, compared to Rutland and the Mission.  Glenmore has less than half a hectare of parkland for every 1,000 residents. The city‘s goal throughout Kelowna is to provide 2.2 hectares of park for every 1,000 residents. Staff said many locations were considered for possible use as a Glenmore recreation complex, with all but the Valley-Longhill site being ruled out. Problems with other possible sites included the high cost of acquiring property that‘s not within the land reserve, longer distance from populated areas and local schools, and topographical constraints. 

Still, some councillors are worried about advancing an exclusion application to the Land Commission against the objections of the city‘s own agricultural advisory committee. "I‘m very concerned about sending this proposal to the ALC without the AAC‘s support," Coun. Robert Hobson said at Monday‘s council meeting.  Earlier this year, the ALC rejected an exclusion application for lands near the Vernon campus of Okanagan College. The property would have been used for a large sports complex, and the proposal had the endorsement of Vernon and Coldstream councils, as well as the college.  Kelowna city staff will meet again with members of the agricultural advisory committee next week to try get the group on board before submitting the exclusion application to the ALC.  Asked if he thought it was likely committee members would change their mind, Gebert said: "I suppose there is that possibility."