Since When Did Reporting Half of the Story Become the Norm?

RE: Society for the Preservation of the Naramata Bench urges participating in Shape Your City, Penticton Herald June 17, 2022 

I am curious if any local media took in the Shape your City Open house this past Saturday for the 1050 Spiller Road proposal.  If they did, they would have seen very few people (approximately 30 based on my count) seem to be concerned about this proposal. 

The neighbourhood surrounding the proposed Canadian Horizons development on Spiller Road supports the Original Development proposal for a master planned, family orientated, mix of housing.

There is a growing number of people in the community who have educated themselves to the benefits of this development and support it in its original form, maximizing density. Check for yourselves. 

Once Wiltse is built out, ALL remaining land, (with the exception of the Spiller Road block) that could be developed within Municipal boundaries is steep, (Grades of 20% or more) which will dictate large lots, and multi million dollar homes, if it is to be developed at all. The Spiller Road block is the only remaining block of land suitable for development to allow for smaller lots and more reasonably priced homes. The buyers of these homes will come, for the most part, from older homes in Penticton, as they did at Sendero.

I am concerned about future of Penticton. Planning reports clearly show land for detached homes is in very short supply (maybe a 10-year supply at best) and no more is available unless we pave over ALR land which is a sacrilege in current public view. The only answer is to make judicious use of non ALR lands we are blessed with.

With the recent approval to proceed given to the Wiltse Development Proposal, the Wiltse development will be the first large approval for single family development since Sendero. Prior to that the last large areas to be developed were created more than 40 years ago when all the homes between the malls, and upper Duncan were built. 30 years from now these homes will be 70 years old, which is when we start to recycle old homes.

In the current real estate market there is no competition to keep a lid on pricing in Penticton.

City Council could do a major good for the entire area by approving the Canadian Horizon Proposal as a competing project to the Wiltse Development so buyers could have a price choice. Competition would assure competitive home prices for next 5 to 10 years. It would also allow a local move up market like Sendero rather than relying on people from Lower Mainland to buy.

One acre lots for mega homes of the super wealthy is not the answer for the city, which is what a select few, and the vocal opposition want to see. The developer has even changed its proposal to this type of land use and this group still opposes it.  More homes for the wealthy and nothing for the middle class and no opportunities for young people to get into the market.

Density is simply a tool that allows a broader range of participants to be landowners in their own homes. Presumably that is a desirable public policy.

The same issues exist across BC at the moment. Populations are still rising as immigration policy opens doors. People have to live somewhere. And Covid and working from home have accelerated rate of change and growth in Penticton. The City is addressing this in North Gateway OCP changes to increase density.

They addressed it in single family detached market in 2014 NCP on Naramata Bench and again ratified it in 2018/2019 confirmation of OCP. The City of Penticton has already staked their position consistent with the vision of the community of wisely using the resources available.

Then City Council blinked on The Spiller Road application in face of opposition that has had 10 years of opportunities for input into city policies and public participation in OCP but did not show up at ANY hearing. This is simply a vocal minority, many of whom don’t live or work in Penticton, trying to alter public policy in a social media age after Council and public did all the heavy lifting for 10 years.

Where have these people been as city spent $500,000 of tax dollars on public participation in the OCP?

Voters have already spoken and elected our Council to follow the OCP.

Council did the work plan, the OCP, now they need to follow it.

All types of housing are desperately needed in order to assist the current generation of 30- and 40-year-olds to get into the market. We are currently demolishing 70- and 80-year-old homes in Penticton for redevelopment in the downtown core area. This too will be the norm, in the Columbia/Duncan and between the malls areas in the next 30 or 40 years. What we need NOW is many more new homes that will be more similar to the existing stock of homes that will be redeveloped by the next generation.

Developable land is a sacred resource we must use wisely.  The community, staff and successive councils have done the background work to determine and identify these lands as future development.  Opposition and delay similar to what has occurred with subsequent proposals for these lands is exactly what Minister Eby and the Province is talking about with NIMBY-ism preventing much needed housing supply coming to the market for people wanting to call Penticton Home.  We need to do the write thing and approve housing in this area.

I strongly encourage all the residents of Penticton and Penticton business owners to go to https://www.shapeyourcitypenticton.ca/1050-spiller-road and make your voices and opinions heard. Your comments will be incorporated into to development as it gets built.