Gleaners encouraged!

The Okanagan Gleaners‘ ongoing fight to remain in their rural Oliver home appears to be almost over.
Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen rural directors voted 6-2 Thursday to give initial support to a rezoning application, which will allow the Gleaners to purchase a portion of their currently-leased food-processing plant property on 336th Avenue.
The Gleaners want to subdivide a 1.5-hectare parcel off a 5.7-hectare farm owned by Martin and Jill Rothe. This portion would then be rezoned for site-specific light industrial use.  Spokesman Don Chapman, with close to 100 Gleaners supporters packing the RDOS boardroom, outlined the society‘s operations.  Working out of a renovated tobacco barn for the past 16 years, the Gleaners have produced tons of dried soup mix from donated food. The soup mix and other food products are then sent overseas to help feed people in impoverished Third World countries.  Chapman said they now need to upgrade their facility to modern standards, possibly including a new building. An RV park for visiting summer volunteers is also proposed.  “We‘re in desperate need for more storage for frozen food, for refrigerated food and dried food,” he said.  Chapman said the Gleaners have enough funds to purchase the property and upgrade their facilities.  “This is a one-off request. I don‘t think this board, unless the Gleaners expand to Keremeos, will ever get another application from a faith-based, not-for-profit benevolent society whose primary goal is to process surplus food for Third World countries.” he said.  “We don‘t care what the zone is. It‘s what we do that counts.”  Under the land‘s current agricultural zone, no subdivisions less than four hectares can be permitted and the RV park would be a non-conforming use. Chapman said the current site is much more suitable for those summer campers, giving them more of an agricultural experience.
Allan Patton, RDOS director for Area C (Oliver rural), and the area‘s advisory planning commission opposed the application. However, Patton emphasized they fully support the Gleaners‘ continuing operation in the Oliver area.
“We value the Gleaners. We think they‘re a huge asset to our area and we‘d like them to stay,” he said.
“But at this point, I‘m actually going to recommend to the board to deny their application, solely because I feel we have several options to offer the Gleaners that are better than what they have here now.”
Patton said he‘d prefer to see the Gleaners relocate to a property on Sawmill Road which is closer to town and has room for possible future expansion.
Commenting afterwards, Chapman said the Sawmill Road property simply isn‘t suitable. He said the Gleaners would have to invest an undetermined amount of money to make the site attractive enough to attract volunteer groups who camp on-site each summer.
“That was a much more expensive venture that brought us closer to town, which is not an advantage with youth groups,” he said.
The rezoning application will now go to a public hearing in Oliver.
at a yet-to-be-determined date. Ministry of Transportation approval is also required.