Silent Majority in Summerland: Urban Growth Strategy

[XT225]

The last contract renewal did not go out for tender. It was awarded to the "current" operator.
We all know who that is, but I digress, carry on with your "I want to get my land out of the ALR" discussion.
It makes for humorous reading.

If the above is true, the council might have some explaining to do. I believe that the Garbage truck/hauling contract was given to another company a few years back so THAT was put out to tender, obviously.

[twobits]

*removed*

[Anonymous123]

Page 7.

http://issuu.com/blackpress/docs/i20120329073349834/1

[old boy]

Page 7.

http://issuu.com/blackpress/docs/i20120329073349834/1

And what does this have to do with the future growth issue,nothing!!!
Too bad the subject under which this thread was started,has digressed so much.

[Anonymous123]

Page 7.

http://issuu.com/blackpress/docs/i20120329073349834/1

And what does this have to do with the future growth issue,nothing!!!
Too bad the subject under which this thread was started,has digressed so much.

Can't you read? It has everything to do with this thread. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. That's what I read. Two councillors going on record saying that the current operator of the landfill doing such a good job that the tender process need not be followed. Same two councillors are now trying to get their land out of the ALR. Only one councillor recommended that the tender process be followed. That same councillor now opposing the land swap. The whole thing stinks. Summerland has a serious problem with their Mayor and Council. Bring on the election. It's time to clean house.

[NextGen]

I was enjoying my long weekend, then I came across some obnoxious comments by one of our posters and I have to address this.

Anonymous has a personal agenda, that is obvious. Anonymous has been side-stepping and misleading: rather than being accountable and responsible, what the issue-dodger and subject-changer really wants is to advance their own agenda at the expense of yours, while simultaneously managing your impression of them. This is call tactics of evasion and diversion.

Perfect timing after reading the Summerland Review, nice job Anonymous.

These behaviors serve as vehicles of resistance to accepting the principles of social responsibility like this ALR issue how it could really benefit our town for the next 50 years, smart planning. Remember he commented he is not going to move here now, so why such a concern about our Future Planning. Could it be, a hidden agenda or a plant from the Stop The Swap? Or Mr Waterman himself ? He is personal using methods of tactics of manipulation and impression-management. Some of the behaviors unrealistic rationalization, blaming, and minimization.

Again he is trying to ruin good peoples reputations of this community, Why? Think about it?

Mr Anonymous what have you done in your own community that is positive? Curious.

Regarding these slanderous statements against the Mayor and two council, would you like our town to outsource contracts and not hire locally? Should we outsource all our contracts like the Stop the Swap group hires TFW's. Or maybe it was you that owned a company and your contract did not get voted in so this is now a personal vendetta?

I know I wrote letter in about the future of business and economic ideas and complaints and I want the City of Summerland and Chamber to make sure they try to hire local companies to help sustain our local business Industry. We need to support one another, if we keep outsourcing business, local companies will shut down here and how can families support to feed their family or pay their mortgages or taxes?

Example of outsourcing in Penticton, see what happens, lets look at their Landfill Contract, it is a comical disaster. Sad for the Penticton community. I hope that Summerland, learns from observing other communities and please don't make the same mistakes

We need to have people in public office that care about ALL Summerland residents and our future. We don’t need people in or municipal office that only care about a small minority. If we have people with that type of characteristic in controlling Summerland, then we will definitely see our beautiful town of Summerland die.

I really hope the ALC sees through the charade of the Stop the Swap Group.

[fluffy]

Can't you read? It has everything to do with this thread. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. That's what I read. Two councillors going on record saying that the current operator of the landfill doing such a good job that the tender process need not be followed. Same two councillors are now trying to get their land out of the ALR. Only one councillor recommended that the tender process be followed. That same councillor now opposing the land swap. The whole thing stinks. Summerland has a serious problem with their Mayor and Council. Bring on the election. It's time to clean house.

So basically what you have is a suspicious nature and that's it? I'm okay with what has gone down in both instances, the dump contract was reported to have been awarded on past performance that stood out head and shoulders above previous operators. That to me makes perfect sense when your other choice is possibly going with an unknown operator based solely on a lower bid. I also note that Mayor Perrino recused herself from all aspects of that decision based on her association with the holder of the contract. Just as the two councillors that hold land within the exclusion zone have recused themselves from the process in this decision. The sole hold-out you mention, while within his rights to express his own opinion, has a proven track record of "adjusting" that opinion to suit his own anti-development agenda so anything he says should be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism in my books.

The question that goes unanswered is why there is so much land in the exclusion zone that is not currently being used for agricultural purposes? And what are the chances of those lands being used for farming in the future? Again this says to me that the issue is not this land in particular, but development in general. We have a group of people so enamoured with Summerland's "small town" feel that they would like to see the doors locked against any possible growth, and there is something very basically selfish about that point of view. Personally I don't mind the quaint little farming town atmosphere, having bounced around Summerland for some forty-five years now I can tell you the the "quaint" factor is not so much a factor of the population, but of geography and design. Our downtown area is hemmed in on all sides by residential devlopement and is not likely to undergo any more of a change in the next forty years as it has in the last. A significant segment of our current population works out of town thus the need for new businesses is more pronounced in the retail sector. Small business would be a welcome addition to provide for more local jobs, and residential construction would be a good source for those jobs. That same construction would also give rise to a need for more associated "satellite" businesses that would help invigorate the currently under-utilized James Lake and Jones Flat industrial areas. Growth is inevitable because Summerland's appeal endures no matter what the population. When I moved to town in 1969 they had just changed the signs at the city limits to read "population - 4000". Where are we now? Eleven or twelve thousand? And shrinking?

Personally I think council is doing the best they can within their given mandate. They can't legislate a stronger economy but they can certainly pave the way to channel possible growth into logical areas should that stronger economy come to pass. I don't have much time for people whose lot in life is to criticise without offering well reasoned alternatives, the aforementioned CAVE people.

[A_Britishcolumbian]

since anonymous123's excellent post is no longer at the fore i will add this.

what this is, is evidence of the viability of a small footprint farm, which in this case would be much more feasible on the improved, and proposed to be excluded land, as opposed to the land formerly excluded and proposed to be swapped back into the alr.

notice the area requirement, .4 acre, and the projected revenue, i assume to be gross, $760,000 US.

i can add as well that this farm design is especially suited for most of bc, because we are both cool and warm enough here.

why more local farmers do not use these methods i have no idea.

Berlin start-up pioneers fish-farm veggie garden

May 18, 2014 by Mathilde Richter

The ancient Aztecs and Chinese did it millenia ago, and now a Berlin start-up hopes it will feed 21st-century city dwellers using aquaponics, a combination of rearing fish and growing vegetables.

Set up inside the brick walls of an old brewery, the company ECF, short for Efficient City Farming, is using an age-old technique to grow tomatoes, peppers and greens in a miniature container farm, fertilised with fish excretions.

"Our vision is to give city dwellers access to agricultural goods produced in a sustainable way," said Nicolas Leschke, who founded ECF two years ago with a business partner.

Aquaponics, as the method is known, combines the techniques of hydroponics, or cultivating plants in water, with aquaculture—or the rearing of fish in tanks.

Because it allows food to be produced directly in cities, not the distant countryside, "the environmental and financial costs of conserving and transporting the goods are greatly reduced", Leschke told AFP.

"And last but not least, it guarantees access to fresh products," he added, snacking on a home-grown swiss chard, a leafy green vegetable popular in Mediterranean cuisine.

The business has set up a prototype container farm on two levels, with a fish tank at the bottom and a small greenhouse at the top where vegetables are grown.

Separate to the aquarium is a tank with a special filter which uses bacteria to transform the ammonium of the fish excretions into nitrates.

The nitrate-enriched water is then pumped to irrigate a greenhouse where the plants grow, not in soil but in a hydroponic bath of flowing water enriched with mineral nutrients.

It is ideal for farming in crowded population centres—an important point at times of growing urbanisation, with half of the world's population now living in cities.

Because the water is used for both the fish and the plants, the method is less water-hungry than traditional farming, while carbon dioxide in the fish waste is recycled as a plant nutrient.


The roots of aquaponics have been traced back to the Aztecs, who raised plants on islands in lake shallows, and to Far Eastern cultures who farmed rice in paddy in combination with fish.

ECF, which last year won a start-up award in California for its innovative take on the ancient technique, has already sold several of its mini farms, but stressed that "our business is not farming as a lifestyle hobby".

The company's goal is to sell bigger farms, to companies, real estate developers or even farmers themselves, said the chief who added, "we have requests from all over the world".

For now, ECF has bought a plot of land just outside its offices where it plans to set up its first large-sized aquaponics farm next year, on a 1,800-square-metre (0.4-acre) area.


Berlin's state investment bank has agreed to help finance the venture, which the firm hopes will spin a yearly revenue of 550,000 euros ($760,000).

The farm will sell fruit and vegetables in a dedicated store on the premises, as well as deliver to Berliners who subscribe to a weekly basket of fresh produce.

It will also sell barramundi, its chosen breed of fish which is popular in Australia and Asia, "to restaurants, or if someone calls up and says 'I am having a big barbecue at the weekend, I need 10 of them'".

With its products grown next door, ECF is embracing a powerful social trend.

For more and more consumers, knowing something has been grown or reared locally is now more important than it being organic, a study by consulting firm ATKearney in Germany, Switzerland and Austria found last year.

Quality, freshness and supporting the local economy are the main reasons behind the enthusiasm for local and regional products, ATKearney said, calling the trend "the new organic".

http://phys.org/news/2014-05-berlin-sta ... arden.html

[fluffy]

...what this is, is evidence of the viability of a small footprint farm, which in this case would be much more feasible on the improved, and proposed to be excluded land, as opposed to the land formerly excluded and proposed to be swapped back into the alr.

I'm all for innovation, but aren't these particular operations designed to be self-contained, and therefore more appropriate on land of no agricultural value?

[A_Britishcolumbian]

the methods described, and because of potential for both hot and cold extremes here, mean that fully indoor with access to sunshine would be most efficient, but not absolutely necessary. i am sure serious farmers are already well aware of the state of the art led lighting being manufactured here in the central okanagan.

using the principles though, and applying them to where ever one might be, is the point/possibility.

the limiting factor as i see it is water, hence the advantage of the improved, proposed to be excluded land. while aquaponics sounds water intensive, it actually is water conservative, but still, water is required.

the water has been made available to the land proposed to be excluded, and not as readily available on the land proposed to be re included.

imagine though, the income and productivity potential for say even a 10 acre site in the proposed to be excluded land. the short term gain of cutting up the land for residential use, as opposed to the long term potential for profit and productivity tells me that the current owners are simply lazy and greedy, just out for the fast buck without a care for the long term prosperity of the community.

[fluffy]

That would still leave the issue of future residential growth in limbo. It seems to me (still) that the logical location to channel this growth would be adjacent to the existing residential area surrounding the commercial core of the town. This is pretty obvious to anyone who gives the matter a little thought, and I have yet to here of a better plan. Getting water into new areas, such as the proposed inclusion zone, is a simple matter of putting pipe in the ground.

[A_Britishcolumbian]

i had thought that was one of the 'silent majority's' pillars though, the cost of additional infrastructure and cost of maintaining existing/aging infrastructure.

i will point out again, being within the alr is not a barrier to development of any sort, residential or commercial.

the only reason i can see for the proposed land to be swapped is subdivision possibilities and the to make farming and commercial development more difficult if not impossible.

[NextGen]

Mr Colombian; the only reason i can see for the proposed land to be swapped is subdivision possibilities and the to make farming and commercial development more difficult if not impossible.

Please, this is a preposterous statement. Keep making statements and give no realistic solutions. Typical Stop the Swap mentality, No Growth- No Plan. For some reason in your minds, this little partial of land will stop all farming, all agricultural, it will cease to exist if this proposal goes through. Right Mr Colombian? Preposterous!!

[antelee]

We are back to the old argument of how to use ALR/Farm status land. The same argument about tearing down decrepit houses. People OWN this land/house and unless all of a sudden we turn into a Communist country, we cannot force people to start aqua agriculture or anything else.

[A_Britishcolumbian]

the people of summerland, if not all, saw the benefit of removing land from the alr for a golf course, land that required improvement. that development would bring jobs and money to the community, for many years if not forever.

the unpopular decision to exclude already improved land for what would seem to be potential population growth, and potential city tax revenue, does not seem to be logical, and is certainly not sustainable. those revenues still need to come from somewhere.

growth in 'new' farming is a real thing, despite what some on this thread may say.