Summerland, B.C. – It was a proposed land swap in Summerland that faced great opposition from residents, resulting in large crowds at town hall meetings. But in a 4-1 vote last spring, council adopted to take 80 hectares of farmland out of the Agricultural Land Reserve and replace it with 90 hectares of land further away in Summerland hills. So this civic election, voters decided to swap out the incumbents. Outgoing Mayor Janice Perrino didn’t seek re-election.
Now Peter Waterman, the lone council member who opposed the proposal, is moving to the mayor’s chair.
“I think the first order of business for council is to consider withdrawing that application,” says Waterman.
Prior to winning their seats on council, four out of the six councillors-elect have been vocal in their opposition against the land swap.
While the others say there’s no harm in waiting to see what the Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) decides.
Some Summerlanders say discussions have already been exhausted and they’ve made their concerns heard.
“We’ve done our voicing, we’ve done our meetings. And when we did them, we found that the people in charge at the time didn’t listen and have actually said that food security is not our interest,” says Roxane Claes, resident.
The Mayor-elect says trading prime farmland is not the way to boost the town’s economy.
He plans to initiate a mayor’s task force to brainstorm other ways to create growth with local stakeholders.
“Just name any business in this community and we’re going to put some thoughts together to see where we want to head,” says Waterman.
He will introduce the motion to withdraw the land swap application from the ALC at the first regular council meeting.
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