Would-be jewellery store thief caught on video tape

An early morning attempted burglary at a Main Street jewellery store has the owner appealing to the public for information.

"At 3:34 this morning (Monday) … I was woken up by the alarms blasting," said Frank Barnay, owner of Cranna’s Jewellers. Barnay lives above the store, and the whole incident was taped by the store’s security cameras.

"He was observed in the camera, crossing the street and angling toward the store," Barnay said, clarifying the man came from between the hedges of the lot across the street.

"He was backed up to the window, waiting for the traffic to go by," he said, adding the man was holding a plastic garbage bag. The man, who appeared to be in his 20s, smashed the window with a large rock, then reached in toward the display, which included three lighters.

"He was trying to scoop the stuff out," said Barnay. But there is a second window behind the first, made of plexi-glass – and the would-be thief couldn’t break through.

"We have a description (from the video tape). He was wearing white pants, black boots, with a grey hoodie, with black gloves on," he said. The man was fair in colouring, of medium height and average build.

When the man couldn’t break through the safety glass, he left, running up 360 Ave. The bag was found discarded on the avenue, near a pick-up truck with a smashed window – which may or may not be related to the incident.

Barnay does not have insurance to cover the window replacement, which is approximately $1,000. He would like the public to help identify the culprit. If you can offer assistance, please call the RCMP.

Development proposed for Southwind property

Oliver might finally be getting an indoor swimming pool – along with bowling lanes and racquetball courts – as part of a new application that has been submitted to the town hall.

The new owners of the Southwind Inn have submitted a rezoning application and preliminary site plan outlining their goals for the property.

"The application has gone in but we have a couple of road blocks to deal with before we can proceed," said applicant Mark Pankratz, refusing to comment further.

Pankratz represents a company called Desert Wine Country Development Corporation, and they have submitted the zoning application and plan to the town hall.

The preliminary plan shows a total footprint of 6.427 acres, and a total of six buildings. Four buildings, of four-storeys each, will be built, and a total of 131 units. Part of this extends all the way to 95^th Street, part of which is currently vacant.

The plan shows a recreation centre on the northern-most part, next to the highway. This is listed as providing another 28 units, in the top two storeys. A restaurant and lounge are mapped into this section, as well as a games room.

The remaining portion - which appears to be where the main parking lot is now – is listed as a four-storey building with 136 condo units.

It is unknown how long the project might take, if it will be built in stages, or if the existing building will be removed.

And for the time being, the project is on hold.

"It’s not in front of council now," said Alleson Mandziuk, corporate officer for the town. "We’re still waiting for more information."

Currently, the land in question is zoned CT, Mandziuk said, which means tourist commercial. It is unclear what the zoning change request will be – but when the application is complete it will go before the town at a regular open council meeting. Then, it will be read a first and second time, and a time for a public hearing will be set down.

Manufactured home-owners looking for protection

The greening of the valley is causing some residents to see red.

This isn’t the green born of the union of sun and rain and fertile earth; this green is the colour of money changing hands as developers purchase land on which to build the next condominium complex or subdivision.

However, the valley is a narrow one, nature having been stingy with the terrain it surrendered to the valley bottom, and vacant land is at a premium. Now the financial attraction for a slice of Okanagan lifestyle is creating nervous jitters among residents of existing mobile home parks that dot the landscape in Southern Okanagan communities from Summerland to Osoyoos.

Worried that their landlords will succumb to pressure to sell these parks, owners of manufactured homes—they prefer this term instead of mobile homes—are banding together to create some pressure of their own. They want policies enacted at the municipal and provincial levels that will give them fair compensation for their units, in the event their landlords sell their parks to developers.

Currently these homeowners don’t have any legislation that protects the value of their homes. Park owners are only obliged to pay the equivalent of 12-months of pad rent to each tenant upon eviction, after obtaining the necessary local rezoning permits.

On Friday, over 200 members of the Penticton and District Mobile Home Owners’ Association gathered at the Oliver Alliance Church to discuss the situation and plan strategies.

"There is a cause we need to address and I think we are doing well with it," association president Frank Chubb told those assembled in the church proper. "There is quite a groundswell of interest and we are being heard."

They are being heard, by town and city councils, as well as regional districts and the provincial government.

Speaker, Robert Cartwright, who owns a manufactured home in Penticton, raised their hopes when he revealed the proposal that had been approved in principle by that city’s council. He urged members to press for a similar policy in their communities.

Known as the Penticton Policy, it sets out some stringent demands that a park owner/developer must meet before his application for rezoning is granted by council.

First they must communicate with each renter in the park and complete a list of questions: name, house number in the park and the home’s estimated value based on current market value (not its assessed value). Then the developer must negotiate a settlement with each owner, based on one of these pre-established options—buy the owner out; if the owner wishes to stay in the area then apply the value of the mobile home to a down payment on the condominium or high-rise being considered for that site; apply the equity of the home to a long-term rental in the development; or relocate the mobile home to another park and discuss suitable relocation costs.

And the details of that agreement with each homeowner must be presented to council, before the rezoning application is permitted.

However, the whole policy hinges on being reasonable where the options are concerned, said Cartwright. If reasonableness is deemed to be lacking with respect to restitution—such as asking more than market value for the unit—then council is free to decide that the developer/park owner has met his obligations under the policy in this situation.

"What the policy won’t do is, it won’t prevent development," he cautioned. "But at least now you’ll get some consideration for the equity you have in your home. And right now under the only legislation that is applicable—the provincial legislation—the only thing they have to do is offer you one year’s notice and one year’s pad rent; if you haven’t removed your home by that time they can come in and bulldoze it and build whatever they want."

He went on to say that Kelowna, Peachland, Coquitlam, Sooke and other municipalities have enacted protective policies of their own, too.

To questions of whether the current Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act would have to be amended to reflect the terms of this policy, Cartwright said no.

"It is the local authority that is responsible for zoning and the act is provincial legislation."

And because many of these parks are located in rural areas, the association also wants the regional district to adopt a similar policy. Cartwright told the crowd that he had a letter from the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen administration promising to look into the matter. That letter came in response to a request from the Tumbleweed Terrace Mobile Home Park that had asked for assistance to address its resident’s concerns about the expected trend toward the redevelopment of mobile home parks.

"The Board of Directors at the RDOS has directed staff to develop a policy for terms and conditions for land use by-law amendments for mobile home parks. So they are looking at it and it is sounding somewhat positive, but we can’t rest on that point. We have to make sure that whatever they do come up with meets the needs of homeowners," said Cartwright.

As for Oliver, Cartwright said the situation is a little different here, because the town had already discussed the issue at the last meeting of the Union of BC Municipalities.

While he is glad they did, he doesn’t want the Town to consider its duty to mobile home owners discharged and hereafter refer petitioners to the province for a solution.

"We want council to know that it is still their responsibility because they are responsible for zoning. All those other policies were passed at the local level and we want the Town to draft and pass the same kind of policy.

"Municipal councils can provide moral support, by-laws that make it difficult to rezone and make re-zoning contingent upon all renters being satisfied. We can’t stop development but with this policy it won’t be at your cost; it will be at the cost of the people who want to develop it."

Let there be light

The proposal to light the pathway through our community centre park is an interesting one. Extending the usefulness of our footpaths through town is always to be encouraged, particularly in those areas where seniors can get exercise or increase their access to facilities and services.

We have only one reservation and it is the one that we apply to all proposals to light public roads or access ways. Will the light fall upon the ground where it will be useful or will it escape into the sky where it will be wasted in the unnecessary act of obscuring the stars?

Many progressive communities have written light pollution provision into their building and development by-laws. These laws require that any new street, parking lot or exterior building lights be "full cut-off" that put no light above the horizontal. Most of the new street lighting put in by the town has been of this type. When standing on a hill above the town, these lights do not shine directly in the observer’s eye. All an observer sees is the pool of light that shines on the ground.

Oliver has not yet encoded the necessity of full cut-off lighting and it is most obvious in the new developments being constructed on the north end of the Tuc-el-nuit rise. Arbor Crest development has installed full cut-off street lighting, as has the town on the new access road. The developer of the area to the north of Arbor Crest has installed the old fashioned cobra-head streetlights. A visit in the evening clearly demonstrates the difference and superiority of the full cut-off lights.

By all means, let us continue to add light to our public roads, paths and gathering places - but let’s do so with lights that are easy on old eyes that don’t adjust quickly when subjected to the glare of a filament. It will help to preserve our view of the natural night sky.