Letter to The Herald ignites huge battle at Summerland Council
Simmering tensions rose to a boil Monday, as Summerland councillors spent nearly three hours debating the merits of a proposed solar project that will now be the focus of a public meeting in July.
The $7-million project, which would provide enough power to run 100 homes, is slated for a five-acre municipally owned lot at 13500 Prairie Valley Rd. at the base of Cartwright Mountain.
The site was chosen as the preferred location by council at a closed meeting in April 2019 that some of those present now say should have been public.
“Shame on us all,” said Coun. Marty Van Alphen.
“We should have had a selection of lands to be able to go public, and let the public have some input.”
Coun. Erin Trainer said in reply she found Van Alphen’s comments “very offensive,” but admitted the site approval “shouldn’t have been done that way.”
The harshest words, however, were reserved for Coun. Richard Barkwill, who earlier Monday had a 1,200-word letter to the editor published on The Herald’s website that raised even more questions about the project and called for an appraisal of the site’s value.
Coun. Erin Carlson described the open letter as “inappropriate” and meant to “fan the flames on a project that has been a council priority for years,” while Coun. Doug Holmes said it contains misinformation.
“It seems to me there’s an orchestrated campaign in this community to sabotage this whole project, and it has to stop,” said Holmes.
Mayor Toni Boot suggested Barkwill’s letter was unfair to others on council.
“I don’t think that shows, in my opinion, a satisfactory level of integrity, and by doing so you are suggesting this is a debate that should be held in the corridors of the media and on display for the media and all of their readership,” said Boot.
“It gets back to our whole communications policy that we’ve talked about several time since this council was elected. I, for one, am not comfortable or particularly pleased with the way that you have gone about bringing attention to this matter by putting it out to the public as a letter to the editor.”
Barkwill’s letter, published online only and not in print due to its length, describes the February 2019 closed meeting as a
“dark night for transparency in local government.”
“I believe that council should never have made such a major decision based on a report we only received that day. This did not allow for proper review by us, much less you, the public,” writes Barkwill.
He goes on to argue the preferred site is the next logical place for westward expansion of the community, and that the project doesn’t make as much financial or environmental sense as council is being led to believe.
“Why would Summerland council want a solar project that is temporary, wasting over $2.8 million of design and construction cost and put on the most valuable piece of developable land the district owns? I don’t know,” Barkwill’s letter concludes.
“You will have to call or write one of the four council members who support it and ask them. But I can’t tell you which ones they are because it was a decision made in a closed meeting, one dark night in February 2019.”
Despite the onslaught of criticism from his peers at Monday’s meeting, Barkwill stood by the letter.
“I do think all these things should be in the public domain, and they haven’t been, and I’m happy they’re now in the public domain,” said Barkwill.
The public will get its say at a meeting July 13 at the arena that will combine in-person attendance — up to 50 people including staff, council and guests — with a livestream.
Representatives from five consulting firms that have already done work on the project will be in attendance, and a land appraisal for 13500 Prairie Valley Rd. is also expected to be ready by then.
The project, made possible by a $6-million federal grant, is expected to generate one megawatt of electricity, enough to power approximately 100 Summerland homes for a year.
The batteries at the site would be able to store two megawatts of power.
One of the studies already done on the project estimates Summerland’s $980,000 investment would be paid back in just over five years through the addition of power to the district’s grid.
Visit www.PentictonHerald.ca and click on the Opinion tab, followed by letters to the editor, to read Barkwill’s full, unedited letter.