I have been reading or hearing about taking land out of the Agricultural Land Reserve to build more houses. I can only say thank God for the NDP which was responsible for creating the ALR in the first place, or here in the Okanagan, there would be wall-to-wall condos and overwhelming crowding.
I had occasion to use both Kelowna and Vernon hospitals in the past few months. One was an emergency visit and the other was scheduled after a two-year wait for surgery. In using the hospitals, I became very aware of the overcrowding. My emergency visit resulted in my having a bed in the corridor. All we need is more demand for more beds or more nursing staff.
Both Penticton and Vernon are looking at taking land for more building.
Why don't the councils follow the regulation of limiting use of farm land for development?
We cannot continue to take perfectly good land when, as the population grows, we will need more space to grow food or support grazing land. In the past 20 years, I have noticed the increase of traffic and crime, making this area less attractive to raise a family. Thank heaven for the orchards, although awhile back, it didn't look good for future of growing apples and other fruit.
We need to limit the ALR land for the use it was designated for before my nightmare of wall-to-wall condos becomes a reality.
Judy Vandergucht
Falkland