changes coming to the Similkameen

Time was, Olalla, Keremeos, and the Similkameen were places where people on fixed or low incomes could go to escape the higher prices of the Okanagan.

Time was, this area was a haven for people who appreciated independence and fewer government regulations.

Time was... it appears that, in the words of Bob Dylan, “the times, they are a- changing,”

The BC provincial government has been introducing reams of legislation in the past few weeks as it gears up for an election. Much of this legislation revolves around the current green revolution, with all its implications for the simplified rural lifestyles that is the reason for many residents to locate here.

Among recent legislation introduced in the provincial legislature this year is a bill requiring municipalities to do their part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The legislation, tabled as Bill 27, requires municipalities to include reduction targets and actions in their official community plans. If they fail to do so, the municipalities will lose government support in the form of grant funding.

New provincial standards for energy and water efficiency of buildings - the ‘greening of the building code’ will require such things as energy efficient lighting, ultra low flush toilets, and better insulation. The new green requirements will come into effect on September 5th of this year.

“The timelines for change require an Official Community Plan by 2010, and a Regional Growth Strategy by 2011,” Electoral area G representative Joe Nitsch said. “It’s important to note that Areas G and B are made up of mostly ALR land - regulations and zoning requirements won’t have much impact for us, other than when someone wants to build a residence, which will then require a building permit.”

Keremeos mayor Walter Despot is initiating a lunch meeting between Similkameen valley politicians in order to begin talks surrounding development of a sub regional growth strategy. The initiative will be a first step in bringing the valley into line with the new provincial edicts.

“We really have no choice,” he said recently. “If local Official Community Plans are not modified by 2010, it will be a strike against us. This is a process that is not going to happen in a few months - it can take a couple of years.”

Despot also noted that public input would be sought as the process evolves.

In the middle of all this demand for change lie the Regional District Areas G and B. As unregulated areas, they have at times been attractive places for those who don’t want government regulation with respect to things like building codes and by laws in their daily lives or their business. The demands for regulation in these areas is becoming louder and louder for several reasons. In some cases, unregulated development has resulted in encroachment problems for nearby municipalities who have guidelines. A case in point concerns a multi-unit development on Boundary Road west of Keremeos that installed a large septic field within 100 metres of a village well, much to the chagrin of council, who were not aware of the development, partly due to the fact that the multiplex was being constucted in an unregulated area.

There is also a desire amongst many new residents to the area, both inside and outside of the unregulated electoral areas, to have regulations in place. A newcomer who has just spent $400,000 on a piece of property wants to protect his purchase by having such things as zoning restrictions in place.

One of the biggest problems Nitsch sees for the regional district areas over new provincial legislation is the cost involved. In the regional district areas, the new requirements for septic fields, and water come at a higher cost that homeowners are left to pay for.

“There is nothing wrong with the new regulations,” Nitsch said, “It’s the way they have been implemented.” He also feels that the carbon tax on fuel hits rural residents the hardest because they have no alternative but to use their vehicles.

Part of the provinces’ desire to make changes to regional governance comes from a wish to see the different municipalities take a broader view of regionally based issues. This would supposedly be easier to achieve if the different areas operated more or less as a single unit.

A message that many local politicians are trying to get to their constituents concerns that of getting involved in the changes that are coming rather than trying to stop them. Those days are rapidly becoming memories of another era. As Mayor Despot says, “There is no more world - but increasingly, there are more people. If we don’t take the initiative to decide how to handle what needs to be done, someone else will.”