Victor Cumming

This is a duplicate question. See answer to Question 5 below.

The cost to provide services to hillside neighbourhoods outside the urban containment boundary (all of which were approved in the past) is much higher than in core areas, and the higher costs must be covered by all Vernon taxpayers. To minimize these tax subsidies, we should fill existing hillside subdivisions. Sprawl also creates other problems like additional traffic. We could double our number of homes through infill and building out existing subdivisions within the containment boundary. We must gently increase density in areas closest to stores, schools and other services, creating walkable neighbourhoods.

Exceptions to the OCP should only be considered when the community benefit of a development proposal is very large and the difference from the OCP is small.

Good development should be compatible (in size and shape) with neighbouring homes. In existing neighbourhoods with small homes on large lots, it’s appropriate to have duplexes, triple or fourplexes up to three stories that respect the look of the neighbourhood. There are many examples in the Seaton area and lower East Hill near 39th Ave. Low-rise apartments set back from neighboring buildings, as on 39th Avenue and Alexis Park Drive, are good. Apartments in mixed-use buildings in commercial areas (such as those near BX Crossing at 48th Ave and 25th Street) are also good.

Poor developments have buildings set high above adjacent neighbours, (for example, Pleasant Valley Road near 37th Avenue). Another poor practice is to have tall buildings without adequate setbacks adjacent to neighbouring lots.

Most important is to keep development with the urban containment boundary. Second, the City must continue to lead—reducing GHGs for our fleet and buildings, demonstrating a proven cost-effective approach. Third, the City must focus transportation infrastructure on alternative modes, beyond vehicles, starting with a) sidewalks, then b) expanding transit, c) multi-use paths, d) reducing conflicts between motor vehicles, pedestrian and cyclists, and e) providing secure parking for bicycles and other mobility devices at our core destinations. Fourth, we need to work with local schools, colleges, and universities to increase skills training to fulfill the needs of an electrified future. Finally, we must continue to educate and engage the community, since CAP future success depends on everyone’s participation—building on past success. The many adaptation and mitigation strategies are beginning to be implemented, but we need to do more work to increase participation.

The 2021 CAP fell short in a few areas. The GHG emission reduction actions will not be enough to reach our goal of net zero emissions by 2050, and need to be strengthened. Also, the 2021 CAP didn’t consider consumption-based emissions. Since these can be addressed by everyone in the community, they’re an opportunity to deeply engage all residents in helping achieve the plan targets. There may also be opportunities to address carbon sequestration to help achieve net zero emissions – working with the agricultural community and with the forest land within city limits. In addition, we need to update the GHG emissions inventory, and expand community engagement.

I have always strongly supported using public funds to acquire natural lands, as I voted for acquisition of parcels along the east side Swan Lake corridor (as a member of GVAC), parcels for the Grey Canal trail in Coldstream Ranch properties (GVAC), the Grey Canal trail near the Rise (GVAC), and the Grey Canal trail from Turtle Mt. to Davison Orchard. I have also supported the acquisition of parcels for Girouard Park and the new Turtle Mountain park on Tassie Creek, and I supported establishing a public area along our two creeks (BX and Vernon) as a requirement in our new OCP. In these cases, these acquisitions both provide environmental conservation areas and places for public recreation. There are high-value conservation areas in the Commonage that could also be a good addition to our park system.

There are more than enough existing current lands for housing, commercial and industrial use to handle double the population of Vernon. There are a few specific locations where new roads and multi-use paths are required to cross sensitive lands, for example, the 48th Avenue Extension from Highway 97 to Old Kamloops Road, the Apollo Extension from upper Long Acre Drive to Bench Road, and roads within the Bella Vista/O’Keefe range lands (if the Okanagan Indian Band decides to partially develop their new land holdings). These are reasonable potential exceptions.

We must move more homes onto community sewers to protect the environment and reduce risks of blue-green algae in drinking water sources. We must also preserve natural areas and restore disturbed area along urban streams. The Polson Park creek restoration is a great example—improving aquatic habitat as well as water quality entering Okanagan Lake. We should also update bylaws—e.g. to promote retention of “natural assets”, rainfall infiltration, and low water use landscaping.

This was a historic drought year. Greater Vernon Water (GVW) must work closely with residents, agriculture and industrial users to carefully manage water in coming years. We must expand the ability of farmers to share water with each other during drought years, and advocate for more funding for irrigation improvements and on-farm water storage and collection systems. We should expand the use of treated wastewater for dust control, construction, boulevards, and agriculture to reduce demands on freshwater sources. It is also imperative to continue to reduce fire risks around our reservoirs on the Aberdeen Plateau.

We will have a new Okanagan Lake intake in 2027 that will provide irrigation water to the Bella Vista area. This summer, we were also able to bring treated wastewater to the area for irrigation use. GVW recently urged the province to prohibit well drilling in the Coldstream aquifer as it is a significant contributor of water to Kalamalka Lake. We must continue to reduce leaks in the GVW systems, and continue to improve irrigation systems in parks and public areas.

As Mayor of Vernon, I have been a strong supporter of a wide range of initiatives for the City, including replacing our small vehicle fleet with electric/hybrid, requiring our new Active Living Centre to be net zero ready, our new Cultural Centre to be a zero carbon facility (all electric), and ensuring our new OCP and Transportation Plan continue to strongly support densification. Other City buildings have been retrofitted to reduce GHGs, with ice cleaning machines moved to electric, multi-use paths constructed to link neighbourhoods, creating a 100% organics curb side collection system and many more initiatives. I sat on our Climate Action committee from 2018 to 2022, and supported education events on climate action. Personally, my wife Mary-Ann and I have reduced our vehicle GHGs by 50% since 2023 with the purchase of a used plug-in hybrid and reduced our home heating GHGs by 20% through increased insulation. All of our organics from our sizeable yard are composted or re-used. We plan to reduce our home heating GHGs to zero by 2030 and our vehicle GHGs to 25% by 2030.

The most immediate risk is drought as we are in Year 5 of a drought and if 2027 is the same as 2026, there will be significant impact on agricultural businesses, particularly tree fruits. We are actively assisting agriculture to reduce their needs through adjusting systems. Water restrictions will remain at Stage 3 for the complete fall, winter, and early spring. High summer heat could initiate an algae bloom in one of our main water sources (Kalamalka Lake), reducing a significant domestic water source. Focused water restrictions will need to be the next step, along with enhanced use of highly treated effluent for agriculture.

Wildfire risk is most prevalent in the interface areas in the south/western part of the City. It is also very prevalent outside the City on the Northern Aberdeen Plateau where the bulk of our fresh water comes from. Vernon, with other GVAC members, plus Lake Country and Okanagan Indian Band have been working together with substantial financial commitment from BC Wildfire to begin the very large task of reducing the catastrophic fire risk on the Plateau. The City has been actively FireSmarting Crown parcels. City right of ways and the most vulnerable neighbourhoods have been aggressively FireSmarting. Some large land owners in the Commonage area have not begun FireSmarting, so more needs to be done. An early warning system, SensNet has been installed so that fires can be detected swiftly.