Location, Location, Location

Who would've thought the realty tenet of Location, Location, Location would include what bureaucrats you're saddled with?

And there are definitely "good" and "bad" bureaucrats.

So it's with considerable displeasure that I now realize Highlands Golf should've been built 15 years ago in the South East Kelowna Irrigation District (SEKID) as opposed to Buchanan Road in Coldstream.

Why?

Because the bad bureaucrats are here at Greater Vernon Water at the Regional District of North Okanagan.

And their influence--indeed effect--on area golf courses is in direct opposition to their good counterparts at SEKID.

Look at this example from SEKID's (from page 11 of 46) Water Rate Review concerning which properties/businesses are eligible for the Agricultural water rate:

"Agriculture:      Means the beneficial use of water for crops, gardens, parks and golf courses which are also defined as Grade A lots."  (underlining: blog author)


Here in the North Okanagan...under the Greater Vernon Water bureaucracy?
Nope.
No such luck.

GVW bureaucrats--condoned by the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee's elected officials (who supposedly provide "oversight" and "approvals")--don't understand that the word Irrigators defines the beneficial use.

But SEKID officials did.

Whether you're a turf farm, an orchard, a community park, or a golf course....irrigation is paramount to your activity.

Lucky golf courses under SEKID!
You don't have to have a math major to see the disparity in these two examples:
Tower Ranch Golf Course is easily 15 times larger in size than Highlands, yet they pay just over twice what Highlands pays GVW annually for water!

Harvest Golf Course is, at a guess of property size, 20-25 times the size of Highlands Golf, and they pay five times what Highlands pays GVW annually for water!

Lucky, aren't they?

Unlucky, aren't we to have located here?
Yup...  

Careful where you buy or build your business...

"More socialists in the bureaucracy here," empathizes Kia.


So much for procedural fairness.
It's not the first time that's been lacking at RDNO.