{"id":283,"date":"2014-04-08T14:29:57","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T21:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ubcowatershed\/?p=283"},"modified":"2014-04-08T14:29:57","modified_gmt":"2014-04-08T21:29:57","slug":"should-summerland-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ubcowatershed\/2014\/04\/08\/should-summerland-grow\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Summerland Grow?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A proposed land swap in Summerland has been in the news of late (Global News<\/a>). \u00a0Town council is proposing to remove 80 hectares of agricultural land near the town and replace it with some arguably less productive land slightly larger farther away from town. \u00a0The town argues that it needs to grow to expand. \u00a0It further argues that developing closer to the core reduces sprawl, saves on infrastructure costs relative to growth further away, etc.<\/p>\n

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But why should Summerland grow at all?<\/p>\n

The economy here in the Okanagan depends on growth. \u00a0The figure below plots data from BC Stats on the Okanagan Economy in 2012. \u00a0Construction, and large shares of Trade and Retail, and Financial and Business Services (which includes legal services and real estate) relate to bringing new people to the Okanagan. \u00a0When we stop building new homes and businesses and selling those to newcomers, people loose jobs and struggle to make ends meet. \u00a0But does it have to be this way?<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

The Okanagan will continue to grow. \u00a0It will continue to attract people because of its lifestyle and climate. \u00a0However, does that mean we have to spread this growth around to all the communities in the Okanagan. \u00a0Why should Summerland (or Osoyoos or Oliver or Armstrong) grow at the same rate as Kelowna or Vernon? \u00a0Is it possible that some parts of the Okanagan, some communities, have enough people already, and that it is better to concentrate the growth somewhere else?<\/p>\n

I think that politics is a big part of this. \u00a0More numbers from BC Stats show how the population of the three regional districts in the Okanagan have changed over the last three decades. \u00a0In the early 80’s, the Central Okanagan already had the largest population of the three regional districts. \u00a0That wasn’t true thirty years earlier, before the first bridge. \u00a0Going forward to the present, and the Central Okanagan has more people than both other regional districts combined.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Why does population matter? \u00a0Kelowna is big, busy, congested, noisy and at times downright unpleasant compared to Penticton. \u00a0It is in such a state that the premier is looking to help by building a second bridge across the lake. \u00a0But this is the rub. \u00a0Because Kelowna is big, it gets more money from the provincial government. \u00a0It has a bigger market, so business finds it a more attractive place to be. \u00a0Given how our water rights system works too, as Kelowna grows, its claim to the scarce Okanagan water also grows. \u00a0That is the consequence of a first in time, first in right system of water rights with a use it or loose it provision. \u00a0From a political perspective, from an ability to secure resources and exert influence, communities that don’t grow get left behind.<\/p>\n

So back to the question, should Summerland grow? \u00a0Listening to some of the proponents of the land swap, Summerland must grow. \u00a0Should Summerland grow isn’t even a question they are considering. \u00a0Maybe it should be. \u00a0Maybe we should be looking at the Okanagan as a whole and deciding where the best place to accommodate more people is. \u00a0Maybe some parts of the Okanagan are already ‘full’ and should not grow. \u00a0I won’t answer the question for Summerland, but I will pose it, and I hope that there are people willing to seriously consider it. \u00a0Of course, that also means we have to learn to work together for the good of the valley as a whole, not just for ourselves or those in our neighbourhood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A proposed land swap in Summerland has been in the news of late (Global News). \u00a0Town council is proposing to remove 80 hectares of agricultural land near the town and replace it with some arguably less productive land slightly larger … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16392,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ubcowatershed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ubcowatershed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ubcowatershed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ubcowatershed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16392"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ubcowatershed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ubcowatershed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ubcowatershed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283\/revisions\/290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ubcowatershed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ubcowatershed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ubcowatershed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}