Okanagan Gleaners running out of options

"When Gleaners took this over, it was just a shell of a barn," said John Martens, president of the Okanagan Gleaners Society, a non-profit charitable organization that mainly makes and donates food for distribution through international aid agencies.

"Everything in this building has come from either donations or (is) bought with donated money," he said. "We put in a quarter of a million dollars worth of improvements that will stay here."

Martens is speaking about the current Gleaners’ location, a 1920s era tobacco-drying barn located off Road Three. Martin Rothe, owner of the property, has donated the building and the use of some 5.5 acres since 1994. But the ten-year lease is long over and the Gleaners, not through lack of trying, are finding themselves in a difficult and challenging situation.

The Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen (RDOS) has recently turned down an application submitted by the Gleaners at the July rural land use board meeting. The proposal was for a land use amendment on a 1.6-hectare portion from an Agricultural designation to a Small Holdings designation. According to the report, the applicant’s intent was to subdivide the northerly portion from the parent parcel to permit the sale of this portion to the Okanagan Gleaners’ operation, presently leased from the existing property owner.

"It’s been one and a half years dragging its way through the different departments," said Martens, who is very disappointed and surprised at the RDOS’s decision. "We might have to shut down."

Al Patton, RDOS Director for Area C (Oliver Rural), said that the board decided, with his initiative, to not approve the zoning application as it doesn’t fit with the area—the zoning wasn’t appropriate for what they’re doing there.

"Small holdings zoning doesn’t fit with processing food," he said. "But I support their work; I like what they do, and I wasn’t going to decline anything until I was sure that it would mean their operation wouldn’t come to an end. I wanted to make sure they had other options."

Patton said that the Gleaners could come back with a different application at anytime, or even the same proposal, although they’d then have to wait six months. He said they could also buy the whole property and lease portions out to farmers.

"Crown referral is also a potential option, although it’s quite a procedure," he said. "The staff feels it’s a good possibility." Patton said the owner has also indicated that he’s quite willing to work with the Gleaners.

Landowner Rothe refused to comment on the subject, but Martens said that they could buy the 14-acre property (including an orchard) if they had the money, although they are not orchardists. "And we did make an offer a few years ago, but the landowner decided he didn’t want to sell."

Founded in the autumn of 1994 by a small group of Christians living in the South Okanagan Valley, Gleaners has grown to nearly 1,000 members. In 2005, approximately 6.5 million servings of soup mix were prepared and are being distributed all over the world.

In the past ten years, food has been sent to countries such as North Korea, Mexico, Bosnia, Romania, the Philippines, and Colombia, among others. Great care is taken to ensure that their product arrives at its destination in good condition and is properly distributed. In addition, tons of food has been given to local soup kitchens, food banks, and street ministries. Everything is done by volunteer work.

"Last year, we filled approximately 1,200 barrels with soup," said Martens. "That’s how they get shipped." Each barrel holds 70 packages of dried soup, and each package makes 100 servings.

Martens said that last year soup went to orphans of AIDS in Swaziland. "There were feeding stations that fed up to 7,000 kids," he said.

Food isn’t all that Gleaners sends to needy countries. "We also send linens, medical equipment, including lots of hospital beds and wheelchairs," said Martens. And every fall, the volunteers organize a "sock drive" for orphans overseas. On average, over 10,000 items of underwear and warm clothing are sent to orphanages.

Martens said that they are almost out of room in their warehouse for all their present products. "It’s now July, and we’re already plugged up. At this point, we only have four to five different vegetables (for soup). We have to wait for the fall vegetables to come so we have the proper mix to make our soup," he said. And the finished product won’t get sent out until January or February of 2007. "Where do we keep it?" He added that last year they had access to other warehouses that they won’t have this year. "We don’t want to move if we don’t have to, but we need more capacity."

Martens insists that the subdivision idea is still the best for their needs.

"If it was subdivided, and we had a piece big enough for our needs, we’d improve on it, if we owned it," he said. "But on a thirty-day lease, it doesn’t make sense to put in more buildings. We have $250,000 worth of improvements now, and we really need to double that. Why would we do it if we might get notice to move?" Martens said that the Gleaners members feel the same way.

"We’re not going to quit if we can help it," said Martens. "We can go month to month."

Chris Grauer, a volunteer with Gleaners and the Soupateria in Penticton, said that if anybody can do it, John Martens and Bob Ellis (the plant manager) can. "You won’t find two more ingenious people," he said. "Somehow they solve the problems and get it done."

For more information on the Okanagan Gleaners, visit their website at www.OkanaganGleaners.ca.

Indoor pool study complete

The verdict is in, and the consultants have chosen a recommended option for an indoor pool for Oliver and area.

"It looks like a modest facility with three lanes and a leisure component to it," said Bob Grant, director of services for Oliver’s Parks and Recreation Society.

Consultant Bill Webster, from Professional Environmental Recreation Consultants (PERC), was hired last year by the society to conduct the study, which resulted in three options that were presented to the public in October.

After taking public opinion into consideration, Webster has now presented the society with one option.

"This is the one the consultant recommended – basically, what they would build," Grant said.

Back in October, the public gave their feedback on the following three options:

Option one married the existing building and outdoor pool, to a new, indoor pool. It included four 25m lanes, with a maximum depth of five feet. That pool could also be used for fitness classes, and other activities. An upgrade to the change rooms, adding a family change room, and administration area will total an approximate $5 million.

Option two involved covering the existing facility. This option included upgrades to the existing pool, and the addition of a new leisure therapy pool. This option would have cost about $8.5 million.

The third option presented last year included removing the existing pool, building a new covered pool with six 25m lanes, and adding a new leisure pool. The hot tub, and a small portion of the leisure pool would have extended to an outdoor portion, which would open up like garage doors. That option cost an estimated $10 million.

The recommended option doesn’t look like any of the initial ones. It will be about 10,500 square feet in size. There will be three lanes, a leisure and therapy pool, and a hot tub. There would also be an outdoor swimmer’s sundeck, with large overhead doors from the indoor pool. It is built onto the south portion of the existing community centre office space, and includes a lobby for viewing as well as change room area.

"In the summer months we’d probably close down the indoor pool for maintenance," Grant said. "It is not the one with the bells and whistles, but it would suit the needs of Oliver," Grant said.

The existing outdoor pool would remain as it is, for the remainder of its lifespan – perhaps another 15 or 20 years, said Grant.

Then, there could be a possible phase two on the new pool, including another four or six lanes with a water-slide component. It would also be indoors, meaning there would no longer be an outdoor pool.

In the meantime, both pools would operate.

Grant said they were surprised with what has been estimated as the cost of building this pool.

"It was a lot less than we ever imagined," he said. As presented, this version will cost an estimated $6 million. At this time, though, Grant doesn’t know how much that will impact property taxes.

The next step is to conduct a random survey, Grant said, likely in the fall. This will give the society a sense of the support level of the general public, and if it seems high enough, the issue would go to referendum.

Border closed due to "suspicious device"

The Osoyoos port of entry was closed for about an hour on Thursday, June 29, due to a "suspicious device" found in a vehicle trying to cross into Canada.

"Our officers were looking at a vehicle that had come through the border, and they had found something that looked quite suspicious," said Paula Shore, communication manager for the Canada Border Service Agency. Both the Canadian and U.S. sides were closed from about 9:30 p.m. until 10:30 p.m., and all members of the public near either port were moved back from the immediate area.

Shore wouldn’t go into detail about what the device was, but they brought in the RCMP explosive disposal unit to check it out.

"They came, and using their expertise and discussions we determined whatever the device was, we could remove it to a non-public area at the port."

It was a false alarm.

"As it turned out, it was nothing we had to be too concerned about," Shore said.

She would not give further details about the device, nor whether the vehicle, which had U.S. plates, was allowed to continue into Canada. She would also not divulge if the owner was allowed to keep the device, due to privacy concerns.

"We were very pleased it wasn’t a device that would cause anybody any harm," Shore said. "If we have cause for concern we certainly act on it."

Indoor pool question

Pool consultant Bill Webster demonstrated his local roots by listening carefully to feedback from the community on the important issues around the idea of creating a covered swimming pool for year round use.

He has come forward with a single, modified proposal that comes in at the low end of the spectrum but does so by reducing the pool to three lanes. The $6 million estimate is a million above the original cheapest option but includes a leisure and therapy pool, and hot tub.

The difficulty we have always had with the pool proposal is the cost, both capital and operating. Six million is a big chunk of money for a community of fewer than 9,000. Nor are the expenses limited to capital costs. The rough rule of thumb is that operating costs will equal the debt retirement costs and that is with today’s cost of energy. Given that the price of energy to heat the pool during the winter months can only be expected to rise over the lifetime of the facility, the costs can be expected to rise with time.

Not that a small town can’t manage such a facility, if it truly reflects demand in the community. It is the extent of this demand that needs to be determined in light of its impact on taxes.

The original study was initiated by a rural director and a parks society who are, for the most part, no longer in office. Their work has provided us with a clear recommendation on which we can have a thorough community discussion leading to a future referendum in which both town and rural voters will need to approve before ground can be broken.

We await the discussion with interest.