To the editor:
It appears that in Lake Country, the political will to protect and respect the wishes of a close knit agricultural community is lacking when opportunity to develop industrial land presents itself.
We have a situation where my neighbour Jeremy Farmer, 8355 Okanagan Centre Road, has successfully lobbied to have ALR land on Seaton and Dyck Roads designated Industrial in the OCP for Lake Country.
Last year he applied and received a temporary permit to park his excavators, etc. on his property with strict limitations as listed below:
6) Development Services
i) Temporary Use Permit 2010‐005 Lot 145 Plan 521, 8355 Okanagan Centre Road West The Mayor asked if anyone in the audience wished to speak to the application. David Anderson ‐ 9577 Seaton Road Mr. Anderson stated he lives on the property adjacent to 8355 Okanagan Center Road West and objects to the industrial use. He stated there is noise from the equipment and increased traffic. He does not want it to become permanent and so is concerned about the future and the possibility of intensifying the current use. It was moved and seconded 11.03.056
That Temporary Use Permit TP2010‐005 for Lot 145 Section 3 Township 20 ODYD Plan 521 Except Plans B5607, 11905 and 23996, to allow the parking and storage of excavation equipment be approved (attached as Attachment “C” to the Report from Development Services) with the following conditions:
1) The vehicles are not to be left running for periods exceeding (5) five minutes.
2) There is to be no storage, dumping or draining of deleterious materials on the property.
3) There will be no land alterations permitted on the property.
4) The vehicles and other directly related equipment must be parked in the areas indicated on Schedule “A” attached to the permit.
5) No nuisances, noise, vibration, smoke, dust, odour or litter, is produced from the parking of the excavation equipment.
6) No maintenance, servicing or washing of the excavation equipment may be done onsite.
7) A commercial access permit with a 9m wide access off of Seaton road is required.
8) Hours of operation shall be restricted to 7:30 a.m. till 6 p.m. Mondays to Fridays and 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. Saturdays.
9) No more than 5 excavators and 5 trailers maybe stored onsite.
10) All equipment must be more than 20 feet from the internal property lines of Lot 1, Plan 23996, civic address 9411 Seaton Road.
11) No equipment or materials that may cause excess noise, noxious emissions or release of deleterious substances shall be stored in the area identified as “storage area” on Schedule
“A”. And further that this permit, issued per Section 921 of the Local Government Act, is valid until December 31, 2011 and, upon application and subsequent approval by Council, may be extended only for one additional 1 year period. At the end of the term of this permit all uses on this property must revert back to permitted uses allowed under the zoning bylaw of the day.
Carried.
During the life of this permit—all conditions were violated—I have personally documented over 75 violations in writing and with pictures. I met with the CEO of the District of Lake Country, the mayor, and as many councillors who would agree to meet with me.
I drove those who were willing to come with me to the site and explained the neighbourhood wishes regarding industrial activity in the neighbourhood. A neighbour and myself canvassed the neighbourhood and to date we have 129 signatures on a petition to the District of Lake Country—strongly opposing removal of this land from the ALR and rezoning it Industrial.
We find that there are two applications before the council on March 20 regarding renewal of TP 2010-005 and the rezoning of the land to Industrial.
iii) Zoning Amendment Z2012-001 (Farmer) That Zoning Amendment (Farmer) Bylaw 815, 2012 be read a first and second time;
And that Zoning Amendment (Bond) Bylaw 825, 2012 be read a first and second time;
And that Zoning Amendment (Wilde) Bylaw 820, 2012 be read a first and second time;
And that Zoning Amendment (Free Methodist Church) Bylaw 818, 2012 be read a first and second time;
And that Zoning Amendment (Kon Kast) Bylaw 819, 2012 be read a first and second time;
And further that Zoning Amendment (Farmer) Bylaw 815, 2012, Zoning Amendment (Bond) Bylaw 825, 2012, Zoning Amendment (Wilde) Bylaw 820, 2012, Zoning Amendment (Kon Kast) Bylaw 819, 2012 and Zoning Amendment (Free Methodist Church) Bylaw 818, 2012 be forwarded to a public hearing.
iv) Temporary Permit TP2010-005 Renewal (Farmer) Lot 145 Sec 3 Twp 20 ODYD Plan 521 Exc. Plans B5607, 11905 and 23996, 8355 Okanagan Centre Road West
That Temporary Use Permit TP2010-005, for Lot 145 Section 3 Township 20 ODYD Plan 521 Except Plans B5607, 11905 and 23996, to allow the operation and storage of excavation equipment be approved (attached as Attachment “C” to the Report from Development Services dated March 20, 2012) with the following conditions:
1. The vehicles are not to be left running for periods exceeding (5) five minutes.
2. There is to be no storage, dumping or draining of deleterious materials on the property.
3. The vehicles and other directly related equipment must be parked in the areas indicated on Schedule “A” attached to the permit.
4. No nuisances, vibration, smoke, dust, odour or litter, is produced from the parking of the excavation equipment.
5. A commercial access permit with a 9m wide access off of Seaton road is required.
6. Hours of operation shall be restricted to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
7. No more than 5 excavators and 5 trailers may be stored onsite.
8. All equipment must be more than 20 feet from the internal property lines of Lot 1, Plan 23996, civic address 9411 Seaton Road.
9. No equipment or materials that may cause excess noise, noxious emissions or release of deleterious substances shall be stored in the area identified as “storage area” on Schedule “A”.
And that this permit, issued per Section 921 of the Local Government Act, is valid for one six-month period. At the end of the term of this permit all uses on this property must revert back to permitted uses allowed under the zoning bylaw of the day.
The temporary permit application has revised conditions. There is no mention of land alteration being prohibited, the house of operation have increased to 7a.m. to 7 p.m. and no restriction on days of the week, and the maintenance conditions have been removed.
So the district proposed to allow the owner of this property to use ALR land for Industrial purposes regardless of prior non-compliance and against the wishes of the neighbourhood.
Also, the district has suddenly decided to rezone six parcels of land (one of them is mine) from ALR to Industrial and the first and second reading are set for March 20, 2012.
Diane Wilde,
Lake Country