SUMMERLAND REVIEW THE VOICE OF OUR COMMUNITY SINCE 1908
VOLUME
66
-
ISSUE
NO.
49
•
S U M M E R L A N D,
WWW.SUMMERLANDREVIEW.COM
B.C.
• T H U R S D AY,
DECEMBER
5,
2013
•
24
PA G E S
•
$1.15
INCLUDING
GST
WHAT’S INSIDE:
Preparing chili
For the past 10 years, members of the Faith Rebekah Lodge in Summerland have prepared chili for the Festival of Lights.
Page 9
X-ray equipment
The Summerland Health Care Auxiliary has pledged 20 per cent of the funding needed for X-ray equipment.
Page 2
Stories of hope
A collection of inspiring stories includes contributions from Summerland writers.
Page 7
Counting birds
A winter celebration
Thousands of festival goers attended the 26th annual Summerland Festival of Lights in the downtown area on Friday evening. The festival marked the start of the holiday season in the community.
Growth options studied
Bird watchers are invited to take part in an annual counting event later this month.
Report outlines future locations for development
Curling bonspiel
A comprehensive report on future urban growth in Summerland will be received and studied on Monday. The report is the result of more than a year of public meetings and consultations, with comments from more than 1,000 Summerlanders, on the direction of growth for the community.
Page 10
The Summerland Curling Club’s Open Men’s Bonspiel was held on the weekend.
Page 18
YOUR SMILE If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished.
Carla McLeod Special to the Summerland Review
by John Arendt
Mayor Janice Perrino said the document examines options for growth and what must be done to accommodate each one. Options include putting new growth into non-agricultural parcels of land even if this results in a patchwork structure or removing some land from the Agricultural Land Reserve near the core of the community in order to create a compact, walkable town core. During her time as mayor and on council,
Perrino has often promoted the concept of having a compact town core, with the majority of growth contained within a 10-minute walk of the downtown area. Others have stressed the importance of preserving all agricultural land, even if this means having residential development scattered in order to accommodate farms. At present, much of Summerland’s population lives near the core of the community, but there are also residen-
tial developments adjacent to active farms. Roughly 35 per cent of the land in Summerland is within the Agricul- Janice tural Land Perrino Reserve. The reserve was created in 1972 to preserve the province’s agricultural land. The present Official Community Plan was adopted in 2008. The document sets out the dir-
ection of land use within the community. In that plan, the proposed Summerland Hills development was the only area set aside for future growth. Summerland Hills was a large-scale golf resort and residential development to be built at the western edge of the municipality. When that plan was abandoned, Summerland was left without a place for future growth to occur. See PLAN Page 5
Police to watch for impaired drivers by John Arendt
Police are urging motorists to put away the keys if they have been drinking this holiday season. Sgt. Stephane Lacroix of the Summerland RCMP detachment said the number of alcohol-related driving violations this year
has been puzzling. “I was surprised,” he said. “I thought people were starting to learn.” Penalties for impaired driving in British Columbia are severe. For a first offense, a motorist who blows a Warn level of .05 to .08 will lose his or her license for three days.
The vehicle may be impounded for up to three days. The costs of towing and storage are $150 and there is a $200 administrative penalty and a $250 driver’s license reinstatement fee, for a total cost of $600. For a second offense within a five-year period, the license is
suspended for seven days and the vehicle may be impounded for up to seven days. The costs add up to $760. A motorist who blows a Warn reading for the third time in five years will lose his or her license for 30 days and the vehicle can be impounded for up to 30 days. See NUMEROUS Page 5