A number of Coldstream residents are questioning the recent press releases and the entire concept for the proposed Aberdeen sports complex. The Greater Vernon Outdoor Sports User Group recently compared their vision for the Aberdeen site to Ambleside Park in West Vancouver.
"Ambleside Park is drastically different than the proposal for a stadium and multiple playing fields being put forth for the Aberdeen property", commented Penny Thorlakson. "The majority of Ambleside Park is devoted to beach front access and a seawall walkway. There are a few sports fields, but no permanent structures such as stadiums or bleachers. The park is located in a large metropolitan area and not in a rural community."
"It is also important to note that the sports field portion of the West Vancouver Park is built on a marshy area where people used to dump refuse", said Gyula Kiss. "They didn't build on high quality soil, like the Aberdeen land. This is a far cry from ripping out land, which can support a wide variety of crops out of the Agricultural Land Reserve to build a sports complex."
"Once large quantities of sand and rock are placed on the Aberdeen land to prepare it for sports fields, the farm land will be lost forever" continued Maria Besso-Ockert. "The changing of the land to non farm use status also then opens up the possibility of housing. Note that the 160 unit Coldstream Meadows development is on ALR non farm use land"
Aside from agricultural issues, some residents are also concerned with the misperception about the proposed complex. "We constantly hear that this park is for the kids, but a solution truly geared to kids would be placing sports fields closer to neighborhoods, and not centralizing all sports in one mega site way out of town" commented Joanne Osborn. She feels that the proposed development is being sold as a park, but in reality it is development geared towards Funtastic and sports tourism.
"The vision unveiled by the Greater Vernon Outdoor Sports User Group this summer was not for a park, but for multiple playing fields, a stadium, and 1,000 parking spaces. Walking trails were mentioned in the press, but this was for a completely different location along the Grey Canal parallel to Buchanan Road. GVSC bundled the Aberdeen and Grey Canal proposals together, but Coldstream Council separated the proposals at the September meeting and passed the Grey Canal concept." Osborn believes that the current press release from the Sports User Group is now just claiming to include family friendly structures for picnicking and non-sport leisure activities at the Aberdeen development to ease public concern.
Many residents, like Denice Berlinski, are also concerned that there hasn't been a professional independent review for the needs of the user groups. "Mayor Gary Corner and some sporting groups pushed this issue to the forefront without any concern for the Coldstream community plan", said Denice Berlinski. She goes on to point out that the Greater Vernon Services Master Parks Plan states that there is a very high field to person ratio in Vernon when compared to other B.C. communities. "Coldstream has 18% of the population and 27% of the sports fields, not counting Coldstream's resources for lacrosse, ball hockey, skateboarding, beach volleyball and tennis."
However, if user groups still feel the need to build more fields, many Coldstream residents question why the proposed rubber track cannot be added to the future site of Vernon Secondary, similar to the site at Penticton Secondary, or that a football stadium can't be built as a stand alone structure/field, and that current sporting and school fields be upgraded. "We don't believe that all avenues have been seriously exhausted. Greater Vernon Services and the Greater Vernon Outdoor Sports Group want a monstrous complex for tournaments and are putting out the notion that this is our only option and chance to have better sports fields. It's not," added Patrick Tymkiw, a concerned Coldstream resident.
Coldstream residents head to the polls on December 15th to vote on whether or not to send an application to the Agriculture Land Commission for non-farm use on the property.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Sunday, November 25, 2007
GVSC can’t avoid issue -- Nov 25 Editorial
Recent comments from Greater Vernon Services Committee chairman Gary Corner would be laughable if they weren’t so concerning.
The largest group of ball diamond users in the community is the various adult slo-pitch leagues who together have over 1,000 members. The minor fastball (also called fastpitch) league serves around 180 girls; fastball can use the same diamonds as slo-pitch. There is only one adult baseball league, and a minor baseball league that had 450 members in 2000. Slo-pitch participation is steady, minor fastball is stable, and minor baseball participation is decreasing." Plan/page 39 (click on)
Soccer etc:
After the committee filed a letter about the proposed Aberdeen Road sports complex, Corner said, “The problem we have is this really isn’t a GVSC issue right now.”
Not a GVSC issue right now?
Isn’t it the committee that has offered to purchase the land from Coldstream Ranch? And isn’t it GVSC seeking a land use change from the Agricultural Land Commission?
It should also be pointed out that the District of Coldstream is only considering a referral to the ALC because it has been asked to – once again by GVSC.
It’s increasingly obvious there’s a significant need for additional sports facilities and the Aberdeen Road site is a suitable location because of its proximity to existing Coldstream and Vernon neighbourhoods.*
But that said, why is GVSC hiding from very legitimate questions about the proposal? As an example, the letter filed by the board dealt with overall costs and alternate sites.
And these questions will continue to persist unless GVSC politicians and staff deal with them head-on. With full information out there – including about the complex design – perhaps public support would grow.
Being transparent would also counter some of the misinformation coming from opposition forces.
In the end, GVSC initiated the entire sports complex process and it’s time to do the right thing and take ownership for the issue.
"Baseball/softball:*Basically, the Editorial is excellent. However, I take exception to the statement: "It’s increasingly obvious there’s a significant need for additional sports facilities".
Why is it that nobody reads the Master Parks Plan? Before such statement is made you should read that plan for which we spent good dollars. To ease your workload, here are some important excerpts:
"Vernon has a softball diamond supply of 1/2,116 population, a very high supply. The baseball Diamond supply is 1/5,080 population. This is also a large number of fields for the size of the Community. An analysis was conducted of field use in relation to capacity. Using a conservative Estimate of capacity (Monday to Saturday week, Saturday based on 9 to 3 PM only, 2 hour blocks for Ball games, one block per weekday evening for fields without lights, 2 blocks for fields with lights), the Field use in relation to capacity is 55% for school fields, and 75% for fields in parks.
Soccer etc:
"Vernon has a total of 51 sports fields. These are used primarily for soccer, but other uses include football, rugby, field lacrosse, track and field, fly fishing practice, grass volleyball, Special Olympics, and ultimate (Frisbee). The following is a summary of the supply of sports fields:......page 40...
Vernon has a sports field supply of 1/996 population. This is a very high standard of supply. An analysis was conducted of field use in relation to capacity. Using a conservative estimate of capacity (Monday to Saturday week, Saturday based on 9 to 3 PM only, 1½ hr blocks for soccer, one block per weekday evening), the field use in relation to capacity is 43% for school fields, and 73% for fields in Parks.
The North Okanagan Youth Soccer Association (NOYSA) is the primary user of sports fields. With about 2000 members in the 2003 season, membership is stable and their season of use is April to November. The NOYSA uses all park and school fields except ones that are in poor condition. They host 3 tournaments per year. There are also men’s and women’s soccer leagues in the community. There are several important trends occurring in soccer. One is a move towards artificial turf, which can sustain much higher levels of play year-round, and many B.C. Communities now have or are developing such fields. Another is indoor artificial turf practice facilities, e.G., Western Indoor Soccer, Burnaby. These are very popular for training. The third factor is the hiring of full time soccer development coordinators to improve the sport. These factors are leading to a more active soccer community and worn, over-utilized fields.
The other groups that use sports fields include: senior men's’ rugby, minor football, high school football, field lacrosse, track and field, fly fishing practice, grass volleyball, Special Olympics, and ultimate (Frisbee). Ultimate is a relatively new activity. With just over 50 regular members in the Greater Vernon area, the league hosted a major weekend tournament in recent years, and also hosts several smaller tournaments annually." page 41.
Unless you can contradict those figures presented by the Consultant you are publishing false information and deceiving the public. Please retract those falsehoods!
Councillor comes Under Fire
“For those that don't want that area (complex) near their place you might do what me and my husband did – we moved.” (click on image)
That is the advice of Councillor Williams to those upset by the potential negative effects of the sports complex. So all those residents presently residing around the Spicer Block, all those present and future residents of the new development across the road take note. If you don't like music festivals, huge sports events with the accompanying noise and traffic you better move out of Coldstream.
Councillor Williams states that they "...couldn’t find housing that was suitable for us at this stage in our lives” in Coldstream, thus they moved out of the area. It is another surprise!
Coldstream Meadows, which was created with the support of the Councillor, recently ran a major ad campaign advertising their homes. They might be a bit more pricey, the utilities (water, sewer) might be higher, taxes might also be higher but then Mrs Williams would have a better appreciation of OUR burden when it comes to voting on increased taxes and higher sewer a water rates. Since she is not affected by these expenses, forgive me if I doubt the sincerity of the Councillor that she is representing Coldstream residents' interest.
I am quite certain that the inconvenience of the traffic, noise, light pollution, loud music of the music festivals will not be experienced by Councillor Williams so she could vote for the complex in good conscience.
ColdstreamR News
Open Letter to Mrs. Malerby
Mrs. Malerby:
I am very disappointed to find that you are so easily swayed. As a retired teacher, I've dealt with many principals over the years who all tell student bodies (secondary schools) that petitions are a very ineffective method of process, simply because they are so open to misuse and misrepresentation.
Can you assure me--beyond question--that the 600+ names on that petition are all Coldstream taxpayers? Are some of them not possibly youngsters well below the age of voting, or paying taxes? Might some of them be from unorganized jurisdictions? Who collected the names? The only petition on the subject of which I was aware (I am a Coldstream taxpayer) was online via Greater Vernon Sports, and on reading it, I found no restriction on signers to be Coldstream taxpayers.
A second point is that the question now goes to referendum. Excuse me--do Coldstream taxpayers need to foot the bill for a referendum (and, for the sake of interest, how much does that cost?) giving direction as to whether or not to send an application in to a Commission that has, in the past, stated concretely that agricultural land is to be retained? Has anyone thought to query the ALC as to where they stand on this question, before getting involved with referenda and such? Has anyone thought to inform the ALC that, in dealing with this question, they will be embroiling themselves in local politics?
My husband and I voted for you in the last election. Should you choose to run again, you most definitely will not secure our votes another time.
by Cathryn Brown
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