Buying into Controversy

Coldstream Mayor Garlick and Council went shopping next door to the muni hall.
And bought the place.

Timing appears unimportant when they're spending taxpayers' money.
A prudent purchaser--using his own funds or borrowing from a bank--would purchase a property prior to it being rezoned as Commercial.
Not this bunch.

The place is the Coldstream Women's Institute Hall at 9909 Kalamalka Lake Road, just steps away from the Coldstream Municipal Hall.


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Rumors surfaced this year that the place wasn't as inclusive in their membership as they could have been.  Rumblings that somebody's membership application wasn't approved by the executive.


Chiefly a rental hall for meetings and private events, the Women's Institute Hall is also the venue for the weekly Farmer's Market in Coldstream.  Councillor Maria Besso frequently champions the market, and the orcharding family of Coldstream councillor Richard Enns are vendors at the event that continues well into Fall.

The Morning Star newspaper did a nice historical piece on the Institute's 81st anniversary in 2012 here.

A benefactor of the District of Coldstream's permissive tax exemption bylaw (1605, 2013), the Coldstream Women's Institute pays no annual tax on land and improvements as they are a not-for-profit registered society.

"The property wasn't listed as being for sale on the market," states a realtor who wishes to remain anonymous. We both wondered if the municipality paid too much as the building is old and needs work.
The realtor continues "the assessment for the Hall was considerably lower before the property was automatically included--by this administration--in the plan for Coldstream's Town Centre rezoning."

A lot lower.
No matter...they'll just do some short-term financing through the province's finance authority (short-term financing doesn't require voter assent), and/or plunder the DCC kitty.

So now, after the rezoning has been approved by Council, Mayor Garlick and Council paid $310,00 for the Hall (plus another $10,000 for conveyancing costs).

"Maybe Council will make membership more inclusive," offers Kia, adding "since at least one or two councillors are members."

Personally, I don't care about a membership issue.
That's for the executive to decide.
I'm concerned at what the renovation costs will be.
Because Coldstream residents will pay for that too.

"Council won't like being stewards of a hall that holds events with Special Occasion liquor licenses," grins Kia.

No worries...Councillors Enns and Besso will stand guard.
Or maybe Councillor Dirk, with his paranoia concerning all things liquor related.

...Wonder who'll now constitute the Executive for the Women's Institute Hall.

One controversy traded for another?

Clutching at the 20 Year Old Idea of a Town Centre

1993 was a different time than now, especially in the North Okanagan.

Consumers Glass was 4 years from its permanent closure.
Bigfoot Industries was 15 years from its permanent closure.

While 1993 was only a few years after the recession, it was still a better time than now in 2013, especially here.  In the early 90's Wal-Mart and K-Mart were discount stores that drew an ever-increasing number of shoppers looking to stretch their dollars.  K-Mart is gone, Zellers is gone, Wal-Mart and Target are here.
Ask the Mom-and-Pop shops in Vernon how the economy (and the American retailers) are affecting them...

Twenty years ago was when the concept of a District of Coldstream "Town Centre" was first proposed.
And today's Coldstream Mayor and Council continue to clutch tightly to that concept, having just rezoned lands surrounding the municipal hall to allow for Mixed Use Town Centre Commercial development.

Likely born -- as so many of these projects are -- at a senior-bureaucrat-presented session at the annual Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting, these community plans read almost verbatim, whether it's Fleetwood, or Surrey/Cloverdale, Maple Ridge, etc.

Yet the typical government red tape has threatened to even "scare business away".
That's not necessarily a bad thing.
A dose of reality.
Because Coldstream doesn't need a Town Centre.
Because only 4 km down the highway is the City of Vernon.

Vernon's economy continues to slide in 2013, despite all the smoke-n-mirrors about improved housing starts (mostly retirees or well-heeled new arrivals from the Coast and/or Alberta).  One would lose count of the storefronts in Vernon that offer Commercial facilities "For Lease", "For Rent", "For Sale".

But today, 20 years after the town centre concept was proposed, Coldstream's Mayor and Council have now completed the Zoning for the Town Centre.

Yawn.

"I, for one, can't see the use for a town centre.  How many years has this been going on?  I don't see the need for one," said ... resident Angie Kitcher in a letter to council, as reported by the Morning Star on August 16, 2013.

Attagirl, Angie!

To which Councillor Kiss replied that it's not a new idea for Coldstream.  "It goes back 20 years almost."

So what?

Twenty-year old ideas should be in the recycling can in 2013!

"It's empire building," suggests Kia.


Seems nobody noticed the empire is crumbling.