A former Summerland councillor feels that the work the council of his day put in towards the future of the small town is being unravelled.

Peter Waterman said the two changes council is considering for the Official Community Plan could mean big consequences for the community.

“There is a lot of pressures ... the mayor has stated she wants the OCP to be more developer friendly and this council is fairly unanimous on that thought,” said Waterman. “That is the direction they want to head and these changes are undermining, in my mind, the whole OCP despite there being only two changes.”

Revisions in the OCP involve altering the five-year wait before major changes can happen. Another aspect is a clause in the policy section that requires taking away urban area if more is added, for no net gain. Other changes would put the Rattlesnake Mountain area into the urban growth area, paving the way for a proposed development within it.

“I think it will have a major impact on the Official Community Plan ... in essence this allows the council free rein and does away with the public’s concern about densification and sprawl. If the Rattlesnake area is developed, it creates a gap of one urban area and another urban area that is bridged with agriculture land — if that happens those agriculture lands are put into danger,” said Waterman.

In 2008, the Rattlesnake Mountain area came before council with a similar proposal to put the land into the urban growth area designation. The issue ended in a 4-3 vote against the change with Waterman, incumbent councillor David Finnis and two others who were not re-elected voting against it.

“This is yet another major issue and Summerland seems to be historically known for divisive issues that just throw massive chasms between camps in the community. Summerland Hills is an excellent example of that and there have been others,” he said.

One suggestion that he has heard floating around the community is that the developer of the Rattlesnake land could swap property with the District of Summerland lands north of the Prairie Valley area. This would place the proposed 450-home development adjacent to the Deer Ridge development, leaving 120 acres of district lands that could be considered a buffer to the wildlife.

“I regard this as a compromise because I wouldn’t really want any more houses up in the Deer Ridge area but that development itself desperately needs sewer because they have septic problems. If you had another 450 homes up in that general area it helps to defray the costs of the sewer extension into that area. It would help them out and give us parkland in the Rattlesnake area,” said Waterman, adding it also would mean no changes to the OCP.

Summerland municipal planner Ian McIntosh said the previous council had set text into the OCP document that was found to not be of legal authority because the previous council cannot dictate how current council makes decisions. The planner addressed the issue of leaving agriculture land between two urban growth areas and said it is a conflict of ideas for many areas in the Okanagan.

“Do you develop the flat lands around the urban core that is agricultural or skip over and move into the hillsides that can’t be farmed? Smart growth suggests developing around the core but it also suggests that agricultural land base should not be used. The two ideas are at conflict in some municipalities ... it is a constant fight to balance those two concepts.”

McIntosh said he is currently putting together all the information that was gathered at the standing-room-only community meeting held last Thursday and expects it to be presented to council on Monday.