The provincial government needs to be more considerate when entertaining new uses for Crown land in the Central Okanagan.

That's the message the regional district board is delivering to the province's Integrated Land Management Bureau, which approves Crown land lease applications.

Board directors believe the province must insure all stake holders have input concerning proposed new uses on public property.

Case in point, the land bureau received an application for the installation of five, 60-metre meteorological towers in Lake Country's Beaver and Oyama Lakes watersheds, to test for wind energy.

However, Lake Country received no notice from the land bureau, said Mayor James Baker.

"We had to get in touch with (them) after seeing an ad in the newspaper," Baker said.

The Lake Country mayor said he was surprised to hear the land bureau overlooked the municipality's interests.

"It is in our reservoir lake area, silting is a big issue and turbidity is a reason for spending millions of dollars on filtration," said Baker.

"So we do have concerns with any activity."

The test site on Long Mountain is also within the Westbank First Nation's land claim area, said Coun. Larry Derrickson. The band was not informed of the application either, he stated.

The height of the towers may impact flight paths. Yet, Kelowna International Airport was not asked to provide input, according to regional planner Ron Fralick.

The referral process is not the only thing troubling the regional board.

Directors are increasingly concerned about the number of wind testing applications to come forward in the Central Okanagan in the last two years.

There have been applications on the Westside in the vicinity of Mount Gottfriedson, Brenda Lake/Mount Kathleen and Shorts Creek and around Buck Mountain on the east side of the lake.

Two more applications will be coming forward for the Peachland and Tadpole Lakes areas, said Fralick.

West Kelowna Mayor Doug Findlater said there should be a "master plan" to map out where these wind farms should go.

"What's the big picture in all of this?" the West Kelowna mayor asked.

Findlater mentioned that on a 2006 trip to Spain he saw windmills on mountain tops as far as he could see in every direction.

"They maybe do a great job for wind power, but at a certain point they just spoil the landscape."

In the case of Long Mountain, if testing proved successful, giant windmills would go up over a 4,500 hectare tract.

Plus power polls would have to be installed to carry the electricity generated.

The regional board will write the land bureau and the provincial energy ministry, asking that they explain what the overall plan is for wind farms in the valley.

Kelowna Coun. Brian Given added that the land bureau should also be asked to confirm in writing that the application would be strictly for the installation of test towers and that a new application would need to come forward before a wind farm could be developed.