The odds of bringing a prison to Lumby have increased.
Penticton residents made it clear last week that they don’t want a prison in their town. Therefore Penticton council has withdrawn its bid for the city to become home to a 360-cell provincial correctional facility.
The opinion poll saw 4,302 residents (out of the 6,445 participants) cast a no vote against a prison in Penticton.
“It obviously takes them out of the running,” said Lumby Mayor Kevin Acton. “Now we’re one of four.”
Now that Penticton is out, the province will have to decide between Lumby, Summerland and the Osoyoos and Penticton Indian Bands. A decision from the Solicitor General’s ministry could be made any day now.
During Lumby’s recent prison referendum 56 per cent of those who voted in the village said yes to a prison while 44 per cent said no. In adjacent Area D (rural Lumby) of the North Okanagan Regional District, 34 per cent voted yes while 66 per cent voted no.
Since a majority of his residents oppose the prison, Area D director Rick Fairbairn is demanding that plans for a prison be permanently shelved.
“Area D is an integral part of Lumby’s social and economic well-being with children attending schools in Lumby and residents supporting local businesses and belonging to Lumby community clubs and churches,” said Fairbairn in a letter requesting the province to halt review of correctional facility sites.
“The Shuswap River and the rural beauty of Area D have given rise to numerous tourism businesses which have already been, and will continue to be, severely impacted by the stigma attached to a prison town.”
The minimum security prison and remand centre will house offenders serving sentences of less than two years and is expected to be built by 2015.
