Coldstream voters will have their say through a referendum, which asks whether 118 acres of agricultural land should be forwarded to the Agricultural Land Commission for non-farm use consideration, for the purpose of a park/sports field.
The voting stations at Coldstream and Lavington elementary schools run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. To date, 483 residents have already voiced their opinion during advanced voting on Dec. 5 and 12, while numbers were not known by press time for Thursday’s advanced poll.
The final results will be used in Coldstream council’s decision whether or not to forward the application to the ALC. If the ALC turns down the application the proposal cannot go forward on the subject property. If approval is given, the project will go to the Greater Vernon Services Commission for public input to iron out the details of the plan. The ALC could also include conditions on the use of the land.
The sports complex issue has been a hot topic in the community since it came up at Coldstream council in July.
Sports groups have rallied for the complex, which proposes fields for football, soccer, slo-pitch, baseball and dog agility plus a track and field with stadium bleachers on upwards of 80 acres of the land.
But opposition has also hit the proposal with concerns such as agricultural preservation, community impact and largely on the lack of information on costs and details.
“This is going to be a referendum where the facts never emerged,” said Andy Danyliu, Coldstream Ratepayers’ Association president. “People are voting on the basis of a guesstimate. I think the outcome is going to reflect the degree to which people trust politicians.”
The details of the project will need to be addressed through GVSC after the referendum process, if non-farm use is granted from the ALC.
But leaving the project in GVSC’s hands has Danyliu concerned that Coldstream’s concerns will be lost at that point.
“What’s going to happen to Coldstream is they’re going to get outvoted,” said Danyliu.
Coldstream only has one vote out of six on GVSC through chairman Gary Corner, mayor of Coldstream.
While Corner is in favour of the project, he says he is there to represent his community.
“The thing you have to remember is this isn’t just me, it’s a whole council,” said Corner, who is appointed by the district to represent his council.
“I personally have some ideas of things that should be done, such as trails,” said Corner.
Initially the project came forward following early discussions with sports and recreation groups, who made it clear that there is a need for more fields.
In particular, the Greater Vernon Outdoor Sports User Group has been supporting the proposal on behalf of a number of sports users young and old. The group has committed $1 million towards the project.
“The whole reason the Outdoor Sports User Group ever came together is we have a serious lack of playing fields,” said spokesperson Bill Tarr. He points to how football has no regulation fields to play on and how soccer just doesn’t have enough.
“We’re the people who deal with this on a daily basis – there is a need,” said Tarr. “And if the vote is no, we still have that need, it’s not going to go away.”
But if the project does go ahead, with all the fields plus buffer zones needed between properties, along the highway and Hunter Creek, some people are questioning where passive parks and trails fit into the plan.
“There’s not a lot left after all of that,” said Terri Jones with the Greater Vernon Advocates Committee.
GVSC parks and recreation administrator Al McNiven says those buffers won’t take away from park space, they just mean development of playing fields and structures can’t be in the buffer zones.
“It would be a natural area and the natural area would become part of the park space, you’d try and put some trails along there,” said McNiven.
Still, some people are seeing this as a soft sell to something much bigger.
“Those of us who are opposed remain opposed because we believe the truth is being buried,” said Danyliu. “The real intent is to turn Coldstream into softball city and that’s not the vision the people of Coldstream want or bought into when they moved here.
“It’s a tournament site, it’s a giant entertainment centre. Every long weekend becomes a tournament weekend and then you have your special events.
“You start with a 500-car parking lot and then you see 2,000 cars pull up and say, ‘well, we’ve got to expand.’”
Tarr doesn’t deny that this complex will become a destination for many games and will be a jewel for Greater Vernon.
“Yes, we’re going to have people from other towns coming to play. It’s no different than the Multiplex,” he said, adding that safeguards can also be put into place such as noise bylaws and not permitting liquor licenses at the site.
One major annual event that has no plans on moving to the site is Funtastic. Organizers have continually stated that the Funtastic music festival will continue to be held at the DND grounds due to its ideal location to slo-pitch fields.
No cost estimates have been confirmed for the project, which is slated to be built in phases.
Whatever the building costs end up being, not to mention maintenance and servicing costs, Jones questions whether Greater Vernon residents are ready to bear the burden – with a likely increase in Vernon taxes and the upcoming library/civic complex referendum.
“They (taxpayers) are going to be hit from all different sides.”
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