A population dip of 7.8 per cent in Naramata could have some consequences should the trend continue, according to the area director.
“We are always concerned about the school. If people buy to retire or vacation here, it is not bringing families and bringing kids to the school. We have been concerned about losing the school due to numbers not being high enough,” said Naramata director Karla Kozakevich, adding enrolment has held steady the past three years.
Naramata saw a decrease of 140 people in their Canadian census population counts. The area director said the decline has to do with summer homes in Naramata. She said it also could be an impact from jobs lost from the packinghouse closure. Naramata, is also concerned about sustaining businesses.
“The tourists come in and the great thing is they spend money at the wineries and spend money at the local restaurants and motels. But that is maybe for three months of the year. We don’t have bodies in these households where they come out and are participating in the community activities, helping keep the businesses doing well in the winter and involved when we do, say fundraisers at the school,” said Kozakevich, noting that several Naramata businesses close during the winter.
One setback to drawing young families to the area is housing costs. Kozakevich said an 18-unit townhouse that was deemed to be affordable housing has not been moving as quickly as they thought. Only three of the units have sold.
“Naramata is traditionally higher priced than some areas, so it is restrictive to find a home that is in a price point that a family can afford. The townhouse complex is so close to the school, and that was the hope of bringing some families in because the kids could walk to school and basically there are three playgrounds and the beach all within walking distance. It is a good idea, but I think the market took a further downturn,” said Kozakevich.
In Oliver, a kick-start of economic activity and community amenities has actually seen their population increase by 9.8 per cent. The Southwinds Crossing Shopping Centre is anchored by Canadian Tire and Buy-Low Foods and renovations to the high school could be the reason said Oliver Mayor Ron Hovanes.
“We have had a lot of growth here in the last number of years for our community. We had large residential growth in the last 10 years and we had a big commercial growth this past couple of years in the south end of town. The new high school is a $30 million project and between that and the mall it probably was our biggest development building permit in our history,” said Hovanes.
The announcement of a correctional centre being built on the Osoyoos Indian Band industrial park Senkulmen, also will have an economic benefit to Oliver said the mayor. With that, he expects the population to move well over the 5,000 mark come time for the next census.
“We are a slow and steady community that is very subtle. We do have room to grow and we have a fair bit of undeveloped residential land. We have room in our industrial park and we also have some commercial space available too so we do have some capacity. Our footprint is fairly small, but we are a very settled, stable community. Having this influx of jobs coming to our area is just huge and something that we are not taking for granted,” said Hovanes.
For now, the population sitting at 4,824 up from 4,395 people is fine with the mayor.
“We haven’t had huge spikes so we are quite happy we are under the 5,000. If we went over, we would have to pay for the majority share of the policing which would have been a huge hit for our community. I’m thinking with the prison announcement, we probably wont make it through the next census being under 5,000,” added Hovanes.
