From: Gail Blidook

Today I read the Roy Wood article in the Penticton Herald and Kelowna Courier regarding the Public hearing of May 23, 2017.

Once again the 700+ people who signed the petition, the many who returned feedback forms or wrote letters, or those who spoke up to protest building the hotel on this particular site, suffer from a “lack of prominence”. (See same reporter May 5th article ODN.) So, regardless if you were a long time business owner, like my husband, a teacher, a former councillor, a police officer, or long time resident and taxpayer, your voice was not counted as important. If you are a senior or retiree you have to know that you don’t count, unless of course you are a “prominent member of the community” or have a “prominent voice in the community”. What does that even mean?

Not one person who spoke at the Public hearing was protesting a hotel! The objection was to destroying a much used Campsite/RV Park and thriving business. Although this was stated many times, the PRO side still insisted that there was only ONE option: Kill the current business, and give this site to the new business. How would any business owner feel if this happened to them?

Our local businesses could have benefited from supporting BOTH. They will now lose significant income from the RV tourists. They will gain some from the short term hotel visitors, but they could have had BOTH. We as a community could have worked together and supported our elected officials to have BOTH.

One speaker who has been coming to Centennial for many years and usually stays for five months, stated they have spent $2500 just in their first two weeks in Oliver. This part time resident and her husband consider our Park, (which is rated as the fourth best RV park in all of BC), as their destination resort. She stated that if the park was gone they really had no reason to return to Oliver. They thought they had always been welcome as tourists, but the mocking that took place of that speaker on May 23rd was shameful. Apparently her voice was not important.

I was naive enough to believe that the public hearing was not just a formality, and that everyone would actually be heard as an equal.

The comparison of which visitors would spend more money in Oliver was based on the misconception that people who stay in a hotel are richer and therefore spend more in town. Ignored was the fact that RVers often stay weeks, or even months when the Park was open in the winter. Hotel visitors usually stay 1-3 nights. Do the math based on mostly weekend visitors compared to long term tourists and visitors. Also do the math to include a year round RV park, not one that was closed by the town for 7 months of the year. One estimate on value to our town was based on comparing what each business would charge per night. That RV site or room fee goes to the business owner, not to the town.

Some who spoke at the meeting said they couldn’t use the Centennial Park. Really? It is open for business to everyone, locals or tourists who want to camp. Did it occur to you that you can’t use any restaurant either, unless you go there and pay for the food? Try it. Walk in, sit down and say you just want to enjoy the atmosphere. Can you go into the hotel and use the bed without paying for it? But guess what friends? YES, you CAN go in and walk through Centennial Park, even picnic for free as long as you are not in an occupied or reserved site. I would guess all the people who said, “I can’t go there” have never tried.
Did you know you can also enjoy our Community Park, Lions Park, Kiwanis Park, Kinsman Park, the benches and tables just north of this Centennial Park? All of these are just steps away from Centennial Park.

Many Oliver residents may not camp at Centennial, but their family and friends do. Some of the people who stay in Centennial are here to enjoy the weather and the community. Others are here for archery, the FOG, baseball camp, baseball tournaments, golfing, winery tours, family reunions, school reunions, temporary work, the firefighters training weekend, overseas visitors. Yes, a lot of them stay at Centennial.
One speaker suggested a site already zoned for Hotel just north of the Lion’s Park. Some protested saying that was too far from town. Really? Two blocks from downtown, nice quiet spot right beside Lion’s park is too far? What about being right across from a fast food, grocery store, hardware, electronics, clothing, and a liquor store? Is that too far from town? Look at the Towns and Cities all around us. Are their hotels down town, or are they typically several blocks or a short drive from the main business core?

Apparently the people who simply wanted to support a hotel in a different location and thus retain a viable long term business were touted as simply being emotional and not being logical. Hmmmm.
May I pose a simple question of logic to the business owners, Mayor and Council? If you had the chance to have two businesses, one with long term visitors, one with short term visitors would you consider all of those visitors valuable? Would you assume that the short term ones would spend more money on all the services in Oliver such as the theatre, groceries, gas, clothing, drugstore, hardware, liquor store, restaurants and fast food, haircuts, specialty shops, as well as the winery tours, or local events? Would they spend their dining dollars in town or in the hotel restaurant at which they are staying, no DD required?

A questionnaire given to Centennial visitors resulted in estimated money spent in Oliver. Average spending was $2438.00 a month, NOT including the cost of staying at the RV Park. Some of the Questions asked at the meeting actually have answers. Centennial Park has 44 sites not 35, and visitors are primarily from BC, not “out of province” as reported at the Public hearing. Most come from BC, then AB then ON, USA, and then Europe.
There were other errors in answers, studies and suppositions at the Public Hearing.
For example when asked if the developer would only consider this site, there was a lot of evasion and then finally the answer was a tremulous, YES, then qualified with “WE are only considering this site”. This statement despite the fact that in a May 5th article by Roy Wood on ODN, Mr Mundi stated he would definitely consider another site if this site was not available after the public hearing.
As the hearing was for changing the zoning from Parks and open Space to Town Centre, I quoted the BC Law Community Charter which states this could only be done with electoral approval, a referendum. I was told that even though the land was still zoned Parks, it had in fact been designated in 2003 as commercial. I had not realized that the necessary referendum had been held in 2003. My apologies to all of you residents who already voted and had your say at that time. Although we have been rural property owners for 47 years, my husband did not own town property until 2007 and I was unaware of that vote.
According to this week’s report by Roy Wood, the much anticipated INDOOR pool has now been changed to an OUTDOOR pool! Some people at the meeting specifically supported the hotel with the idea that they could swim there in the winter.
There is no guarantee that the developer will proceed and build on this flood plain/ designated hazard land. This is land that the council promised to protect from development in its own OCP Policies, Section16.2, and Broad Community Goals, Economic Development and Regional Growth Strategy. All this info is on Oliver Town website.
Once that 80ft strip of land on Fairview is zoned as park on June 12th there will no longer be an entrance to Centennial RV Park. Even if the developer does not proceed we still lose the park.
Oh yes, there will now be increased costs to the town. Although people have been told this property was costing the town a lot of money, the contractor at Centennial pays all of the utility costs, wages, infrastructure maintenance, and grounds keeping – including the watering and cutting of the grass, the watering and pruning of the trees, and the provision of the picnic tables. Now the Town gets to do all of that.