Fresh start for Summerland

Photo: Contributed

Stop the Swap rally held earlier this year

A longtime horticulturist and orchardist is the mayor elect of Summerland, following Saturday's election.

Peter Waterman won with 1,197 votes. He will be joined by a council of new faces, including four women councillors.

"I advocated for a good gender and age mix and we got it all," he said.

Photo: Contributed

Peter Waterman

Waterman was the only councillor to vote no earlier this year to the controversial land swap that would have seen 200 acres of land removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve near the downtown and replaced with land in Prairie Valley.

The swap was being discussed by the present council as they examined urban growth strategies. While others on council supported it, Waterman felt there was a need to retain higher quality land that would provide advantages.

In keeping with that, one of his first orders of business will be withdrawing the application to the Agricultural Land Commission, regarding the swap.

"They (the present council) were able to send the application to the ALC and were waiting for a response," he said. "So I'm saying there will be a motion that will come before council, and I'm quite sure they will say yes, to withdraw the application."

Instead, Waterman would prefer to see densification developed within existing infrastructure.

His other goals include looking at a mayor's task force on the local economy, basically the sort of things local businesses could do to improve the economic climate in Summerland, and expanding the basic transit system.

He also wants to work on making sure residents of Garnet Valley have the same water quality as the rest of the town.

The latter will take a bit of time because the funding needs to be in place. He admits the mayor's task force will be a long commitment for residents and council to work through.

The new council includes Toni Boot, Doug Holmes, Erin Carlson, Erin Trainer, Janet Peake and Richard Barkwill.

Carlson, 26, a farmer and staunch supporter of Stop the Swap, said she ran because she saw that something needed to change, and she didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to be part of that change.

"I am definitely looking forward to conversation with the ALC and people to understand the process a little better," she said.

In terms of her age, she stated the first thing she has noticed is that young people want to be engaged.

"I've had 16-year-old boys call me and say they want to participate," she said. "Other people under 30 have contacted me and said they'd like to come back to Summerland and have a future here."