New council says no to land swap

Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

Stop the Swap rally held earlier this year

An agenda item dealing with the land swap issue was voted on at the first meeting of the new council, Monday, in Summerland.

Mayor Peter Waterman said there was an application to exclude 200 acres from the Agricultural Land Reserve and an application to include 226.

"Our election year was built around this major issue of the land swap, and I think the electorate expected to see something on this issue very quickly on the new council agenda," he said.

On the first application, Councillor Erin Carlson had to recuse herself, because her family owns property in the area to be excluded.

As a result, the vote was 5-1, with Councillor Janet Peake opposed.

For the next application to include, Carlson returned, with the vote 6-1, with Peake still opposed.

With the two motions, they are in the process of drafting a letter advising the Agricultural Land Commission of the wishes of the Summerland council, Waterman said.

There was also a third motion related to this to have a workshop in the new year to look at certain aspects of the proposed Official Community Plan amendments. That passed unanimously, said Waterman.

The controversial swap would have seen land removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve near the downtown and replaced with land in Prairie Valley. The swap was discussed by the last council earlier this year, as they examined urban growth strategies.

Waterman, then a councillor, was the only one to vote against it, saying he felt there was a need to retain higher quality land that would provide advantages.

A movement known as Stop the Swap sprung up in opposition to the issue. Hundreds of Summerland residents attended meetings to voice their concerns.