No Wal Mart for Salmon Arm

Last night, the City Council of the City of Salmon Arm rejected an application to change local zoning regulations that would have allowed Big Box store Wal Mart from constructing a "Smart Centers" Mall in our city.

This, after five nights of public hearings that heard over three hundred submissions were made by local residents.

This hearing lasted in one case until 2:30 AM. The hearings were packed with over five hundred people each night.

Salmon Arm is one of the few small communities that was able through the efforts of many of it's residents, resist the power of Smart Centers.

In the end, it was the Wisdom of the residents, that in my view, caused council members to think long, and hard, about sustainable development for this rural community, situated on Shuswap Lake.

The refusal to cave into the financial pressure exerted of Smart Centers, has allowed one of the last remaining wet land areas in British Columbia to remain as such.

There is much work to do, as this was defeated by the narrowest of margins, and Smart Centers will not give up easily. Some residents strongly feel that this type of investment is good for the community and, will continue to support "Big Box" developments like Wal Mart.